GitHub Copilot app modernization FAQ

GitHub Copilot app modernization helps you upgrade your .NET (.NET, .NET Core, and .NET Framework) projects to newer versions of .NET. It also helps migrate services to Azure, upgrades dependencies, and fixes errors in code after migration. The agent performs the following steps in a Copilot chat session:

• Analyzes your projects and proposes a modernization plan.
• Runs a series of tasks to modernize your projects according to the plan.
• Operates in a working branch under a local Git repository.
• Fixes issues automatically during the code transformation.
• Reports progress and allows access to code changes and logs.
• Learns from your interactions during the session to improve subsequent transformations.

• The agent requires a local Git repository.
• The upgrade or migration suggestions aren't guaranteed to follow best practices.
• Code fixes and corrections you provide to Copilot during the upgrade process don't persist and aren't remembered for future upgrades.

Use a good coding model. Model availability is dependent on your Copilot subscription and environment. For a comparison of models, see GitHub Copilot AI model comparison.

No. Unlike traditional AI tools where you might enter freeform prompts, the agent operates in a structured way. The AI is embedded in the build-and-fix process, so the prompts it uses are predefined and tied to the upgrade plan. You can't train it on your codebase, but it's used as context by the agent.

The agent uses customization Copilot provides, such as instruction files and skills. Customization is based on what your Copilot supports.

If you manually adjust a fix, provide additional instructions in chat, or update the Markdown in the plan file, it learns from that interaction in the short term.

The agent never stores your codebase or uses your code to train the model. Once an upgrade or migration completes, the agent deletes session data.

Yes! There are two ways to provide feedback:

• In Visual Studio, use the Suggest a feature and Report a Problem features.
• File an issue at the @modernize-dotnet GitHub repository.

The agent collects telemetry only about project types, intent to upgrade, and upgrade duration. The data is aggregated through your development environment and doesn't contain user-identifiable information. For more information about Microsoft's privacy policy, see Visual Studio Customer Experience Improvement Program.

Yes. In Visual Studio, select Help > Privacy > Privacy Settings > "No, I would not like to participate." Telemetry settings might vary by development environment. Check your tool's privacy settings for more information.

GitHub Copilot app modernization helps you upgrade your .NET projects or migrate them to Azure. Besides upgrading the target framework, the agent works with these project types:

• Azure Functions
• Console apps and class libraries
• Web technologies such as:
  • MVC
  • Blazor
  • Razor Pages
  • Web API
• Desktop technologies such as Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation
• Test projects such as MSTest and NUnit
• .NET Framework projects

The agent helps migrate and deploy your .NET applications to Azure, including:

• Web apps
• API apps
• Azure Functions
• Containerized applications

The migration scenarios include:

• Modernizing databases
• Storage
• Identity
• Messaging
• Event streaming
• Email
• Logging
• Security

For more information about these scenarios, see Predefined tasks for migration.

Yes. Monitor the assessment progress through the Visual Studio interface. The agent provides real-time feedback and status updates on the migration process. Other development environments might offer different monitoring options.

In Visual Studio, monitor assessment progress by viewing the command-line output while the assessment runs:

1. Go to View > Output to open the Output window.
2. In the Output window, find the Show output from dropdown.
3. Select AppModernizationExtension from the dropdown list.
4. The command-line output from the assessment tool appears here, showing real-time progress.

Or, access the Output window with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+O.

Related content

To learn more, see What is GitHub Copilot app modernization?.