The Three Tools You Need to Know

Three Tools, One Ecosystem

• All three are full agentic platforms now — they edit files, run commands, use MCP servers, and follow custom skills. Updates ship almost daily.
• VSCode Chat — best when you're already in the IDE
  • › Inline diffs and visual file review
  • › Language server diagnostics (errors, references, symbols)
  • › Drag & drop files as context
  • › Three modes: Agent (autonomous), Plan (think first), Ask (Q&A)
• Copilot CLI — best when you live in the terminal
  • › Multi-model support (Claude, GPT, Gemini — switch with /model)
  • › /fleet for parallel subagents across files
  • › Cloud delegation (prefix with & to offload)
  • › Plan mode with Shift+Tab
• Claude Code — best when you need depth
  • › 1M token context (8× more than Copilot)
  • › Worktree isolation for safe parallel agents
  • › Full hook system (18 events)
  • › Persistent memory across sessions

Pick by Comfort, Not Capability

1. 1 Same plugins power all three — they're converging fast. The real question isn't 'which is best?' but 'where do you prefer to work?'
2. 2 Pick your default based on comfort
   • › IDE person → VSCode Chat
   • › Terminal person → Copilot CLI
   • › Depth person → Claude Code
3. 3 Update all three tools today — they ship updates almost daily and you'll miss new capabilities if you're behind
4. 4 Quick test — run the same task in each tool (e.g. 'explain this function') and compare the experience. You'll be surprised how similar they've become.