What's New in Visual Assist

General Release Build 2025.5 (2588)

Requires active software maintenance through general release date: 2025.11.12

NEW Compatibility for Visual Studio 2026
NEW Explain with AI now streams responses in real-time
Visual Assist 2025.5 released!

Summary:

Visual Assist 2025.5 is here with Visual Studio 2026 support!

The headline of this release is full compatibility with the recently published Visual Studio 2026. VS 2026 marks a significant evolution of the IDE with deep AI platform integration, enhanced performance, and stronger fundamentals to help users “stay in the flow”.

Visual Assist 2025.5 ensures that all of VA's productivity features work seamlessly alongside these improvements, giving you the best of both worlds as you make the transition.

We also have improvements for those enjoying VA’s own A feature, VA Intelligence, introduced in 2025.4. Explain with AI now streams responses in real-time, so you can start reading explanations immediately rather than waiting for the complete response to generate. This makes the feature feel more responsive and natural, especially when facing more complex code and prompts.

While this is a more compact release compared to our typical feature updates, it delivers exactly what matters most right now: ensuring Visual Assist works flawlessly with Visual Studio 2026 from day one.

As always, we appreciate everyone who takes the time to report issues and share feedback. Your input helps us prioritize fixes and improvements for each release. If you have any comments, suggestions, or encounter any errors, please send us a message or start a thread on our Discord.

Bug fixes:

  • Fix for the misc-include-cleaner code inspection to prevent suggestions for unnecessary includes
  • Fix for the Welcome Page appearing more frequently than intended

General Release Build 2025.4 (2583)

Requires active software maintenance through general release date: 2025.10.21

NEW Added extensive set of C++ safety checkers and code inspections
NEW Swap between predefined checkers sets for code inspection: VA Default, C++ Safety, or Custom
NEW Context-aware AI-powered Symbol Explanation to find and explain code symbols using local AI
NEW Redesigned UI for core navigation and refactoring features. (Full list in release post)
NEW New welcome page featuring latest updates, integrated feedback submission, and learn section
NEW Simplified sharing via email or link for colleagues or coworkers
Visual Assist 2025.3 released!

Summary:

Visual Assist 2025.4 introduces over 60 new code inspection checkers focused on C++ safety. We’ve also overhauled the UI for key features, added a new Welcome experience for first-time installs, and—most notably—launched our AI integration: VA Intelligence.

The most noticeable change is the redesigned interface for Visual Assist’s core navigation and refactoring tools. We’ve modernized dialogs such as Open File in Solution, Rename, Find Symbol, and Change Signature to deliver a cleaner, more intuitive experience with more consistent and predictable workflows.

The biggest update in this release, however, is the extensive set of code inspections for C++ safety—a consideration that’s becoming increasingly important as global standards bodies and major organizations push for verifiable, memory-safe C++ practices.

These 60+ new checkers continuously scan your projects to identify potential safety issues. You can also customize which checkers are active using the new preset options.

We’re also introducing our AI integration, VA Intelligence, debuting with its first feature: symbol explanation. This context-aware tool helps you understand unfamiliar code by analyzing symbols across your entire project. What makes it special? It’s an opt-in, fully local feature that runs on your GPU—no data ever leaves your machine, ensuring your code stays private and secure.

To round out the release, we’ve added a new Welcome Page and made it easier to share Visual Assist with your team. These improvements make it simpler to discover what’s new, explore tutorials, learn useful shortcuts, and share feedback instantly through the in-app feedback widget. For further assistance, you can always reach out to support, or start a new discussion on our forums or Discord

Download the release now by visiting our website downloads page, or continue reading our announcement blog post for the complete story.

Bug fixes and improvements:

  • Quality improvements pertaining to Visual Studio 2022 support.

General Release Build 2025.3 (2568)

Requires active software maintenance through general release date: 2025.07.03

NEW Add, remove or reorder parameters when using extract method
NEW Macro expansions now shown on hover (Quick Info)
UPDATE Improved dot to arrow conversion now supports for auto pointers
UPDATE Improved look of “ray line” line highlighting style
UPDATE Modernized options dialog UI
UPDATE Replace Auto With Exact Type added to right-click menu
UPDATE Replace Auto With Exact Type now available on auto keyword
Visual Assist 2025.3 released!

Summary:

Visual Assist 2025.3 is now available to download. This release brings significant enhancements to improve developer experience, especially for when using the recently updated Auto-related functionality. And in line with the theme of updated visuals, we’ve also updated our options interface for a more modernized experience.

It also focuses on user-requested features that streamline common development workflows and provide better visual feedback when using Visual Assist features.

Download the release now by visiting our website downloads page, or continue to our announcement blog post for more information and details about the release.

We greatly appreciate the reports submitted by users. Please continue on sending them over. You can reach out to support, and submit a new discussion on our forums or discord as well.

Bug fixes and improvements:

  • Fix for syntax coloring not working in shader files in VS 2022
  • Fix for code formatting not working in shader files in VS 2019+
  • Fixed issue where Encapsulate Field would double function prefixes
  • Fix for Shift+Alt+Q menu sometimes taking over a second to display
  • Fix for Go To Related sometimes taking over a second to display
  • Fix issue where search area in Find References Results was sometimes rendered incorrectly on first display
  • Fix for sometimes duplicating “<>” when accepting listbox suggestions