VS Code v1.146 Starts the Local Harness Countdown, Gemini 4 Carbon Reaches Copilot, and Copilot CLI v1.0.109 Goes Stable

At a glance

• VS Code puts a removal date on its older Local agent harness, so teams that still use it have time to move.
• The same VS Code release adds an inbox for agent sessions and chats in their own windows.
• Gemini 4 Carbon is generally available in Copilot and follows the default model policy.
• The Copilot CLI build with the new Claude model in the picker is now the default install.

The VS Code GitHub release went up at about 5:07 AM ET today, and the v1.146 notes dated 11 November 2026 lead with the Local harness countdown, not a recap of last week's editor release. GitHub posted the Gemini 4 Carbon note at about 2:26 PM ET on Tuesday, and the npm latest tags for Copilot CLI, Gemini CLI, and Codex all moved, while both Cursor changelogs stayed unchanged.

Treat today as a harness and picker day: confirm your VS Code agent sessions run on the Copilot harness, look for Gemini 4 Carbon in the Copilot model picker you already use, and move Copilot CLI to v1.0.109 now that it is stable.

Top Stories

1. VS Code v1.146 deprecates the Local harness and adds an inbox for agent sessions

The VS Code v1.146 release notes, dated 11 November 2026, say the Local harness is deprecated as of this release and will be removed in February 2027. Microsoft says the Copilot harness has been the default for new sessions since VS Code v1.143 and enforces managed sandbox and permission policies that the Local harness does not. For the next three months the Local harness still works but is functionally frozen, and the enterprise managed setting that kept it as the default will be removed along with it.

The release also adds an experimental inbox mode for the Agents window. Turn on sessions.list.inboxEnabled, which is off by default, then pick Inbox Mode under Grouping. Sessions that need your attention move to the top, above Working, Ready to merge, On hold, and Done, and you can dismiss, hold, or snooze the rest. Chat windows arrive as a preview, so a chat can live in its own window with its editors and terminal.

Two smaller items matter for security. Permission prompts in the Copilot harness now default to allowances for specific domains, commands, and directories instead of a whole session. A new sandbox setting can mask chosen environment variables so sandboxed tools see placeholders, and the real values go only to HTTPS hosts you list. An experimental /code command in Copilot CLI v1.0.107 or later also hands a CLI session to VS Code with its history and model.

Practical dev impact: Open a new agent session and check the harness picker says Copilot. If your team still relies on the Local harness, put the move on the calendar now, because new features will only reach the Copilot harness and the switch disappears in February.

2. Gemini 4 Carbon is generally available in GitHub Copilot

GitHub posted on 10 November that Gemini 4 Carbon is generally available in Copilot. The changelog says it is available to Copilot Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise users in the model picker across VS Code, Visual Studio, Copilot CLI, the coding agent, the Copilot app, github.com, GitHub Mobile, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, and Eclipse. Rollout is gradual, so you may not see it at once.

Business and Enterprise administrators manage access through the model policy in Copilot settings. Under default model enablement, new models are switched on automatically unless an admin turned off the global default or disabled this model, unlike the Fable 5.2 policy that starts off.

Practical dev impact: Our read: check the picker in the Copilot surface you already use, because on many Business and Enterprise plans the model may already be on unless an admin changed the default.

3. Copilot CLI v1.0.109 is now the stable default

Copilot CLI v1.0.109 published on GitHub at about 12:02 PM ET on Tuesday, and npm latest for @github/copilot now points to it. Yesterday those features still sat on the prerelease tag. The stable notes add Claude Fable 5.2 to the model picker under New models, add IPv4 and IPv6 CIDR support for sandbox host allow and deny rules, and emit a final result record in JSON prompt mode even when a run fails early. The prerelease tag already points to v1.0.110-1. Use that only on a spare test machine.

Practical dev impact: Move everyday machines to v1.0.109 now that it is the default install, and leave v1.0.110-1 on a test machine only.

Practical Impact Analysis

Our read: the VS Code deprecation is the item with a real deadline, so give it ten minutes today even though nothing breaks until February. Because the Copilot harness is already the default, most developers have nothing to change, while teams that pinned the Local harness through managed settings need a plan. Gemini 4 Carbon is the model change most likely to show up without a request, because default enablement can turn it on for you.

The rest of the board moved quietly. Gemini CLI latest is now v0.68.0, and Codex latest moved to v0.167.1, which shipped with no release notes beyond a compare link. Both Cursor changelogs are unchanged. If you have one hour, check your VS Code harness, look for Gemini 4 Carbon in the picker, and move Copilot CLI to v1.0.109.

Tutorial

1. Open a test shell. The active commands below only print registry tags and installed versions.
2. Run step 1 to print npm tags and your local versions.
3. Uncomment a line in step 2 only if you want the pinned stable builds.
4. Read step 3 to try inbox mode and to confirm your harness in VS Code.

# We have not run this script end to end on every platform. It prints and checks, and changes no files.
# Run it in a test shell. Nothing is written to your shell profile.

# 1. Snapshot at 5:52 AM ET Wed 11 Nov 2026, npm registry channel:
#    @github/copilot latest v1.0.109, prerelease v1.0.110-1
#    @google/gemini-cli latest v0.68.0, preview v0.69.0-preview.0
#    @openai/codex latest v0.167.1
npm view @github/copilot dist-tags.latest dist-tags.prerelease
npm view @google/gemini-cli dist-tags.latest dist-tags.preview
npm view @openai/codex dist-tags.latest
if command -v code >/dev/null; then code --version; else echo "no code CLI on PATH"; fi
if command -v copilot >/dev/null; then copilot --version; else echo "no copilot CLI on PATH"; fi

# 2. Optional installs only. Pinned at 5:52 AM ET Wed 11 Nov 2026, npm registry channel:
# npm install -g @github/copilot@1.0.109
# npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@0.68.0
#    Test machine only, npm prerelease channel, not for production:
# npm install -g @github/copilot@1.0.110-1

# 3. VS Code v1.146 checks (release notes, 11 Nov 2026):
#    Start a new agent session and confirm the harness picker shows Copilot.
#    Inbox mode is experimental and off by default. In settings.json:
#      "sessions.list.inboxEnabled": true
#    Then choose Grouping > Inbox Mode in the Agents window sessions list.
#    Notes: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_146

echo "Done. Nothing was installed or changed on disk."

If npm view shows newer tags, refresh before you pin.

Sources:

• Visual Studio Code v1.146 release notes
• VS Code 1.146.0 GitHub release
• Gemini 4 Carbon in GitHub Copilot
• Copilot CLI v1.0.109 release
• Copilot CLI v1.0.110-0 release
• Copilot CLI v1.0.110-1 release
• Gemini CLI v0.68.0 release
• Codex v0.167.1 release
• Cursor changelog
• Cursor CLI changelog
• GitHub Changelog

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