.NETPro #13: Copilot Coding Agent and Semantic Search in .NET, .NET 10 Release Candidate 1, Visual Studio 2026 Insiders, Application Insights Code Optimizations, and More...
🌏 Actionable .NET tips, latest updates, and community insights all in one place
There is plenty to be excited about this month. .NET 10 Release Candidate 1 has just landed with a go-live license, giving you the green light to deploy in production and take advantage of runtime boosts, new library features, and post-quantum security. Pair that with Visual Studio 2026 Insiders, which introduces AI-powered assistance, faster builds, and a refreshed Fluent UI, and it feels like the future of development is already here.
Of course, new tools are only part of the story. The bigger question is how we spend our daily coding hours. How much time disappears into boilerplate code, missing tests, or drafting specs instead of building features that matter? That's where this issue’s spotlight tutorial comes in. You will see how the Copilot Coding Agent can take on the busy work so you can stay focused on creative, high-value development.
You will also find a practical walkthrough on building a semantic search in .NET from scratch with Amazon S3 Vectors. And as always, we have gathered more expert tutorials and community insights you will not want to miss. Here’s a peek at today’s top picks:
➡️ Deploy with confidence using .NET 10 Release Candidate 1 and its go-live support license
➡️ Discover Visual Studio 2026 Insiders with AI assistance, faster builds, and a refreshed Fluent UI
➡️ Explore how Application Insights and GitHub Copilot optimizations boost performance in .NET
➡️ See how Copilot Coding Agent automates repetitive .NET development tasks
➡️ Build semantic search in .NET from scratch with Amazon S3 Vectors, in a video tutorial by Milan Jovanović
➡️ Learn how to implement caching in ASP.NET Core minimal APIs
➡️ Discover the challenges of creating .NET tools and practical CI testing advice from Andrew Lock
➡️ Master email sending in .NET with Dylan Beattie
➡️ Implement file uploads with minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core with Joydip Kanjilal
So keep reading, and when you’re done, drop us a note about what you enjoyed and how we can make the next edition more helpful.
Cheers!
Adrija Mitra
Editor-in-Chief
Missed our last special issue?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: Ready to master partial classes in C#? Start Part 1 of our new series with Mark J. Price
📰 What's Happening in .NET!
The latest .NET breakthroughs are here. Haven’t explored them yet? Dive in now!
➡️ Announcing .NET 10 Release Candidate 1: .NET 10 Release Candidate 1 is now available with a go-live support license enabling you to deploy confidently in production. Get new library enhancements like post-quantum cryptography, ASP.NET Core improvements, and better tooling with VS 2026 Insiders and VS Code.
➡️ Visual Studio 2026 Insiders is here!: Visual Studio 2026 Insiders introduces advanced AI assistance, improved performance for large codebases, and a refreshed interface designed to boost productivity. Discover how these enhancements can elevate your development experience.
➡️ Application Insights Code Optimizations for .NET Apps: Microsoft’s Application Insights Code Optimizations deliver automatic analysis of runtime profiler traces, pinpoint CPU and memory bottlenecks, and provide code-level suggestions through GitHub Copilot. See how you can resolve performance issues faster and transform insights into action.
➡️ Performance Improvements in .NET 10: .NET 10 introduces major runtime enhancements, including faster JIT inlining, optimized devirtualization, improved stack allocation, and more efficient code generation. These updates significantly boost application speed and efficiency, empowering you to deliver higher-performing solutions with less overhead.
➡️ .NET and .NET Framework September 2025 servicing releases updates: The September update includes cumulative security and reliability fixes across .NET and .NET Framework. Applying these patches ensures your systems stay protected and stable while benefiting from Microsoft’s ongoing maintenance and support.
➡️ Microsoft Supercharges Visual Studio Debugging/Profiling with Copilot: Visual Studio’s new Copilot Diagnostics toolset embeds GitHub Copilot into the diagnostic workflow to help you identify, understand, and resolve performance issues and bugs faster.
⏱️ Time for Some Hands-On .NET
Don’t miss this edition’s spotlight tutorial!
This guide by Bruno Capuano is for you if you want to cut down on repetitive tasks, speed up your workflow, and lean on AI without losing control. If boilerplate code, test coverage, or writing spec documents feel like a drag, you’ll find that the Copilot Coding Agent can take on that busy work so you can focus on the creative, high-value parts of development.
The guide aims to show you how Copilot Coding Agent can move beyond simple code suggestions and actually automate whole workflows. You’ll see this in action with two scenarios inside the sample project eShopLite:
Identifying and generating missing unit tests.
Turning a Product Requirements Document (PRD) into a working new feature.
Here’s what you do in each scenario:
By the end, you’ll understand how the agent helps you go from planning to issue creation to feature implementation, all while keeping you in the driver’s seat.
What’s next after this guide?
Once you’ve worked through this walkthrough, your next step is to try the Copilot Coding Agent on your own project. Pick a small feature or some missing tests, run the same workflow, review the results, and start building confidence in how the agent can fit into your daily development flow.
Missed our last special issue? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: Ready to master partial classes in C#? Start Part 1 of our new series with Mark J. Price
🧑🏼💻 What .NET Experts are Talking About
Inside the minds of .NET pros: Real-world experience, real insights!
➡️ Semantic Search in .NET From Scratch with Amazon S3 Vectors: In this video, Milan Jovanović demonstrates how to transform your S3 bucket into a vector store, generate embeddings with Amazon Bedrock, and run similarity queries directly from your .NET application. This approach enables RAG and semantic search on Amazon S3 with lower cost and simpler infrastructure.
➡️ Using and authoring .NET tools: In this guide, Andrew Lock explores the challenges of creating .NET tools when the target runtime version on customer machines is uncertain. He also shares practical guidance for managing and testing these tools effectively in continuous integration environments.
➡️ How to implement caching in ASP.NET Core minimal APIs: In this guide, Joydip Kanjilal shows you how to use in-memory, distributed, hybrid, response, and output caching in ASP.NET Core to make your minimal API applications run faster, scale more effectively under load, and deliver responses with greater reliability.
➡️ Sending Email Correctly in .NET: In this video, Dylan Beattie shows how to properly implement email sending in .NET. Since email is a core feature of most applications, mastering the right approach is a valuable skill that can give you an edge over other developers.
➡️ How to upload files using minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core: In this guide, Joydip Kanjilal shows you how to implement file uploads using Minimal APIs in ASP.NET Core via IFormFile and IFormFileCollection interfaces. You’ll also understand how to handle anti-forgery tokens correctly so your endpoints stay secure and reliable.
Missed our last special issue? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: Ready to master partial classes in C#? Start Part 1 of our new series with Mark J. Price
And That's a Wrap 🎬
Thanks for diving in. I hope this issue sparked an idea or two that could help fuel your next big project.
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Keep learning, keep building, and we’ll see you next time!