VS Code 1.124 ships Copilot Autopilot by default — agents now act without asking permission, capped at three loops

VS Code 1.124, released June 10, ships one change that silently affects every developer who opens it: Copilot Autopilot is now enabled by default. Previously opt-in, Autopilot allows the agent to take file edits, run terminal commands, and execute tool calls without prompting you for approval at each step. If you haven't read the 1.124 release notes, your agent's permission model changed the last time VS Code updated.

What "default Autopilot" means in practice. The agent runs autonomously through its task — creating files, running tests, modifying code — and only surfaces for your input when it reaches a genuine decision point or exhausts its loop budget. Advanced Autopilot uses a utility model to determine when a task is truly done and caps autonomous loops at three before stopping and returning control. That loop cap is the primary guardrail against runaway sessions that burn credits and make changes you didn't want.

Background sessions via Alt+Enter. The other workflow-changing feature: press Alt+Enter to send a request to a background agent session instead of blocking the current window. You can compose your next request immediately while the previous session runs in parallel. Completed background agent terminals are automatically cleaned up. For teams running multiple parallel agent tasks — one refactoring a module while another generates tests — this removes the "wait for the agent to finish before starting the next thing" bottleneck.

Session navigation is now keyboard-first. The sessions picker (Ctrl+R / Cmd+R) lists all agent sessions with search; Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab navigate forward and back; Ctrl+1–9 jump to sessions by position. Session state is restored on VS Code reload, so you don't lose context if the window restarts.

Enterprise policy alignment. Policy-backed settings in VS Code now align with Copilot CLI configurations, giving IT admins centralized control over chat plugins and model marketplace access — relevant for teams that need to restrict which models agents can reach in regulated environments.

The behavior change to be aware of. If your team has specific workflows that relied on Autopilot being off (e.g., for review-heavy code paths or regulated environments), the 1.124 update turned it on without an explicit prompt. Check your Copilot settings and set "github.copilot.chat.agent.autopilot.enabled": false to opt back out if needed. More broadly: the default shift signals that VS Code's model of "agent autonomy" is moving toward the assumption that agents should act unless told not to, rather than act only when told to.

Sources: VS Code 1.124 release notes, Visual Studio Magazine: 1.124 agent autonomy, TechTimes: Autopilot enabled by default