Microsoft AI Extension Pack - AI Developer Tools Tool

Overview

Microsoft AI Extension Pack is a curated collection of Visual Studio Code extensions that Microsoft assembled to accelerate building generative-AI applications and agent workflows inside VS Code. The pack aggregates the AI Toolkit (model catalog, playground, prompt/agent builder), the Azure AI Foundry integration for model/agent deployment, GitHub Copilot (and the Azure-targeted Copilot variant) for in-editor AI pair-programming, and Data Wrangler for data preparation — all surfaced as a single recommended bundle to simplify discovery and setup. According to the repository, the pack’s purpose is to provide a cohesive developer flow from model exploration and local prototyping to cloud deployment via Azure Foundry. ([github.com](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-ai-pack)) In practice this means you can browse and test models (local and hosted), scaffold agent code, iterate on prompts and agent workflows in a Playground, and deploy or manage deployed models and agents from a Foundry project — while using Copilot for faster code generation and Data Wrangler for dataset transformations. The individual extensions that make up the pack (AI Toolkit, Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot, GitHub Copilot for Azure, Data Wrangler) each have their own documentation and release cadence; Microsoft’s docs and blog posts document active development and periodic updates to the AI Toolkit and Foundry integrations (examples: AI Toolkit release notes and Foundry extension guidance). ([github.com](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-ai-toolkit?utm_source=openai))

GitHub Statistics

• Stars: 13
• Forks: 9
• Contributors: 4
• License: MIT
• Last Updated: 2025-05-28T15:49:08Z

According to the project's GitHub repository, the Microsoft AI Extension Pack repo is small and maintained as a curated extension-pack manifest rather than a large feature codebase: it has 13 stars, 9 forks, 4 listed contributors, and is licensed under MIT. The repo itself contains a short README and package manifest listing the included extensions; activity is light (a handful of commits and few open issues), which is consistent with its role as a packaging/packaging-list repository rather than the main product code (the heavy development happens in the component extension repos such as AI Toolkit and Azure AI Foundry). ([github.com](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-ai-pack))

Installation

Install via npm:

Open Visual Studio Code, go to Extensions view, search for 'Microsoft AI Tools Extension Pack' and Install (preferred GUI method).

Install individual extensions via the VS Code command line (replace <extension-id> with actual marketplace id):

code --install-extension <publisher.extension-id>  # e.g. code --install-extension GitHub.copilot

If you prefer the repository: review README to find exact marketplace links and extension ids, then use the 'code --install-extension' command above. ([github.com](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-ai-pack))

Key Features

• Model Catalog: browse models from GitHub, ONNX, Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic and others inside VS Code.
• Playground: interactive environment to run and compare model responses with sample inputs quickly.
• Prompt / Agent Builder: generate starter prompts and scaffold agents, with prompt chaining and structured outputs.
• MCP/tool integrations: connect agents to external MCP servers (HTTP/stdio) for real-world tool use.
• Azure Foundry deployment: configure and deploy models or agent workflows directly to Azure AI Foundry.

Community

Community engagement is modest — the GitHub repo is small (13 stars, 9 forks, 4 contributors) and functions mainly as a curated manifest linking to component extensions. Most active development, issue discussion, and feature releases occur in the component extension repositories (AI Toolkit, Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot). Microsoft publishes periodic updates and release notes for AI Toolkit and the Foundry extension (examples: April and July 2025 updates), and Copilot remains a commercial product with its own large user base and documentation. For troubleshooting or feature requests, open issues on the pack’s GitHub repo and on the individual extension repos (AI Toolkit, Foundry, Copilot). ([github.com](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-ai-pack))

Key Information

• Category: Developer Tools
• Type: AI Developer Tools Tool