For the last 126 editions, I’ve brought you the MindByte Weekly newsletter. What started in November 2022 with just a handful of readers on Revue (remember that Twitter experiment?) grew into a weekly rhythm of sharing the best I found on GitHub, Azure, and .NET — all the things I work with daily.

Except for the occasional break, I’ve kept that rhythm going. But lately, creating a new edition began to feel more like a chore than a joy. There are so many other things I want to spend my time on — open source projects, learning new things, growing my FinOps mailing list, and, most importantly, enjoying my personal life.

So this will be the final edition of MindByte Weekly.

To close things off, I’ve collected a few articles that caught my eye recently. Thank you for reading, subscribing, replying, and being part of this journey. Let’s dive into the final round.

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GitHub Digest

Did you know the GH Advisory Database? It is a large collection of security vulnerabilities and malware affecting open source packages. Used by security scans like Dependabot, but also a source of analytics. Learn all about the numbers behind the database:

GitHub Advisory Database by the numbers: Known security vulnerabilities and what you can do about them

Use these insights to automate software security (where possible) to keep your projects safe.

github.blog/security/github-advisory-database-by-the-numbers-known-security-vulnerabilities-and-what-you-can-do-about-them

Are you still getting photos of a screen, pasted in a Word document, from your customers? If so, feed them into Copilot to extract the real issue. One use case of Copilot, but there are many more:

5 tips for using GitHub Copilot with issues to boost your productivity

Reduce context-switching, minimize manual work, and accelerate resolution times with these new AI-powered features.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/github-copilot/5-tips-for-using-github-copilot-with-issues-to-boost-your-productivity

An interesting vision; from agent mode (when the AI works along side you) to coding agent (where the AI works completly in the background). Copilot becomes better and better, but what is next?

From pair to peer programmer: Our vision for agentic workflows in GitHub Copilot

AI agents in GitHub Copilot don’t just assist developers but actively solve problems through multi-step reasoning and execution. Here’s what that means.

github.blog/news-insights/product-news/from-pair-to-peer-programmer-our-vision-for-agentic-workflows-in-github-copilot

Coding Corner

Never implement your own security unless you really know what you are doing. So you would normally stick with a standard and use libraries. But still, they come with options, so make sure you know how to use those. Albert shows three different settings that can impact your security when used incorrectly.

The Three Most Common OAuth Implementation Mistakes

Implementing OAuth. That’s something any developer can do.

abstarreveld.medium.com/the-three-most-common-oauth-implementation-mistakes-e321f1575f30

Azure Updates & Insights

Still on my (ever growing) list to do; work more with PostgreSQL as it is a great database system. On Azure, you can use PostgreSQL as a PaaS, so a fully managed database as a service. Want to know more about Flexible Server, how to get started and how to use it? Then read this article from Red Gate.

Getting started with Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server

Along with its many other cloud services, Microsoft now offers Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server, a database-as-a-service platform based on

www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/databases/postgresql/getting-started-with-azure-database-for-postgresql-flexible-server

.NET Nook

Microsoft is of course working on the next version of .NET, namely version 10. In preview 5, you find more opentelemetry features, MAUI and WPF enhancements, and OpenAPI 3.1 support.

.NET 10 Preview 5 Brings Blazor Observability, XAML Simplification and More

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced the release of .NET 10 Preview 5, delivering updates across multiple components, including ASP.NET Core, .NET MAUI, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and Entity Framework Core, and more. As reported, this preview introduces new features and improvements to enhance developer productivity, application observability, and customization.

www.infoq.com/news/2025/06/dotnet-10-preview-5

Not a lot of features you might use daily, but good to keep up with the changes. A list of some of the recent changes in C# 12 and 13.

7 Underrated C# 12 and C# 13 Features Every Developer Should Know! | Syncfusion Blogs

Master hidden C# 12 and C# 13 features like collection expressions, inline arrays, and params span to write better code and prepare for C# 14 release.

www.syncfusion.com/blogs/post/underrated-csharp-12-and-13-features

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back!

Every week, I scan the latest updates and stories across GitHub, Azure, .NET, and beyond—sharing the ones that truly stand out. This edition brings insights into model limits in GitHub Copilot, the growing cost of premium AI usage, and architectural guidance for GitHub Enterprise setups.

You’ll also find sharp commentary on sovereignty in the cloud, practical modernization patterns, and a deep dive into building local workflows with Aspire and Temporal.

If you’re serious about writing better software, staying current on what matters, and navigating today’s dev landscape, this edition has plenty to offer. Let’s get started.

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GitHub Digest

I was really surprised at how powerful the Claude model was in combination with Agent mode in Copilot.

However, this comes with an additional cost as most of the models are moved under a higher tier and get limits for usage. You get around 300 premium requests per month and depending on the model, there is a multiplier on their usage (e.g. GPT-4.5 is 50x times higher compared to the included models).

A limit that will most people hit soon if you do some serious agent mode AI usage. So it becomes even more important to select the right model to use.

New GitHub Copilot limits push AI users to pricier tiers

: Welcome to bill shock, AI style

www.theregister.com/2025/06/20/github_begins_enforcing_premium_request

How should/could you actually structure a GitHub setup? Where do teams,repos, orgs, and enterprises fit in? Find out in this article how you can add some structure to your setup.

Structuring GitHub Enterprise: Best Practices from the Org Level Down

Ever joined a GitHub Enterprise and thought, “Who organized this… chaos?” I created this post...

dev.to/this-is-learning/structuring-github-enterprise-best-practices-from-the-org-level-down-45i5

The CEO of GitHub recently argued that developers should learn to use AI for assistance, but should also be capable of direct coding. Cant disagree there.

GitHub CEO to software engineers: ‘Key for winning’ AI coding tools is in …. - The Times of India

Tech News : GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke emphasizes the importance of developers retaining hands-on coding skills alongside AI tools. He warns against over-reliance o

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/github-ceo-to-software-developers-key-for-winning-ai-coding-tools-is-in-/articleshow/121991206.cms#

It is hard to see which models are actually there, and which one you should use. But also; models are being retired as well, so do notice which ones are the replacement variants.

Upcoming deprecation of o1, GPT-4.5, o3-mini, and GPT-4o - GitHub Changelog

GitHub Copilot will deprecate the following models in github.com/copilot and Copilot IDE model pickers according to the schedule below: Model Deprecation Date Suggested Alternative OpenAI GPT-4.5 2025-07-07 OpenAI GPT-4.1 OpenAI…

github.blog/changelog/2025-06-20-upcoming-deprecation-of-o1-gpt-4-5-o3-mini-and-gpt-4o

Coding Corner

I’m currently reading Architecture Modernization written by Nick Tune. Although not finished yet, I can already recommend it due to the sheer amount of practical details on how to tackle application/architecture modernization.

So I m pleased to see that Nick also placed some of the information on a dedicated website so you have easy access to a variety of patterns.

Azure Updates & Insights

You see cloud vendors like Microsoft responding to the current sentiment of cloud usage outside the USA. They try to offer solutions that should take care of the concerns, but are they good enough or is it just a marketing term?

.NET Nook

Want to build workflows in .NET and do this completely locally? Then consider using Temporal in combination with Aspire. Rebecca Powell created a series of articles on how to use Aspire to build a workflow-driven system using the powerful Temporal engine.

Combining .NET Aspire with Temporal - Part 1 | rebecca powell

Part 1 of a multi-part blog series on Temporal with .NET Aspire.

rebecca-powell.com/posts/2025-06-09-combining-dotnet-aspire-and-temporal-part-1

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back!

Each week, I search for the most practical, curious, and forward-looking updates across GitHub, Azure, .NET, and cloud development. If it catches my eye—or solves a problem I’ve run into—I’ll share it here. This week is no exception.

You’ll find insights on Copilot customization, GitHub’s MCP server magic, async error handling in C#, and even some thoughtful takes on building modern microservices.

Quick reminder: move this email to your primary inbox or star it to ensure you don’t miss future editions. A simple reply like “got it” also helps!

And of course, if you’re new here—welcome! You can subscribe anytime to stay in the loop.

Now, let’s get into it.

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GitHub Digest

As you will see in another article linked below, it is easier to customise the copilot instructions by providing some guidance at the right place. The Code Review functionality now also respect these instruction files so it can work in the same consistent style across multiple Copilot features.

Copilot code review: Customization for all - GitHub Changelog

Copilot code review now supports the same custom instructions used by Copilot Chat and coding agent—unlocking personalized, consistent AI reviews across your workflow.

github.blog/changelog/2025-06-13-copilot-code-review-customization-for-all

MCP servers are hot, and for a reason; it is the glue that allows exposing other services to AI tools. In this case, when you configure the MCP server in VS Code, use the Copilot Agent mode to ask GitHub related questions and it can, on your behalf, talk to GitHub and perform tasks.

Remote GitHub MCP Server is now in public preview - GitHub Changelog

Connect AI agents to GitHub tools and context with OAuth, one-click setup, and automatic updates with GitHub’s hosted server.

github.blog/changelog/2025-06-12-remote-github-mcp-server-is-now-available-in-public-preview

Coding Corner

Burke Holland provides a collection of custom prompts to make working with Copilot more productive. And unsure which model to pick; the O1, Gemini, Claude or GPT4? Read what works best for you:

Essential custom instructions for GitHub Copilot

Prompt engineering - or should I say “Prompt Negotiation” - is (currently) an important part of productivity with AI. Your success working with tools like GitHub Copilot is gonna be directly related to how well you prompt it.

burkeholland.github.io/posts/essential-custom-instructions

MCP all over the place; also in the new Visual Studio Code update. So if you are not yet playing or using MCP servers, now is the time to get started.

May 2025 (version 1.101)

Learn what is new in the Visual Studio Code May 2025 Release (1.101)

code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_101

You could ask why; but maybe the correct answer needs to be; just because you can. As Azure has larger and larger machines, you can get more CPUs and what is better then playing Tetris using the CPU view in the Task Manager on a larger set of processors?

Starting a new front-end project, know that you want to use some React but have no clue where to actually start? Join the club; my front-end experience is jQuery, which is not the choice of today anymore. The below article can guide you in the right direction:

Choosing the Right Framework for Your React Project: Vite, Next.js, or CRA?

In the ever-evolving landscape of web development, React has established itself as a cornerstone for building user interfaces. However, the…

medium.com/@mason.aviles.dev/choosing-the-right-framework-for-your-react-project-vite-next-js-or-cra-cb367f0bc123

I m a big FinOps fan, so let me also share some FinOps related stuff once in a while (I do have a dedicated newsletter as well); there is a free webinar about cost insights coming up soon.

Customer Cost Clarity: Insights That Drive Action​

In this free, live webinar, you'll learn the secrets to connecting every dollar of your cloud spend to specific customers, features, and teams—and how to turn those insights into powerful business action.

finopsweekly.com/our-events/customer-cost-clarity-insights-that-drive-action

.NET Nook

Using async calls have a lot of advantages, certainly when you need to kick off a bunch of tasks using the WaitAll or WhenAll functions; but what if an exception occurs, how to you capture this error and what you can do about it?

C# Tip: Handling exceptions with Task.WaitAll and Task.WhenAll

Task.WhenAll and Task.WaitAll are common methods in C# that allow you to execute multiple Tasks. But… what happens when an exception is thrown?

www.code4it.dev/csharptips/task-whenall-vs-task-waitall-error-handling

I always like to look at other code to be inspired and learn how to do stuff, and this is no exception; a very extensive and well written article on how to build microservices. It is opionated for sure and you can disagree with parts of it, but it has some good points and practices.

How I've been building APIs and microservices lately (feat. C# & .NET)

This post is all about how I’ve been building APIs and microservices lately (using .NET and C#), what’s been making me productive, and how my approach has evolved over time.

blog.codingmilitia.com/2025/06/11/how-ive-been-building-apis-and-microservices-lately-feat-csharp-dotnet

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!

Every week, I keep an eye out for updates, features, and blog posts that stand out — the kind that make you pause mid-scroll and think, “Oh, that’s actually useful.” This week is no different.

From GitHub’s ever-evolving Copilot features (including a very handy new way to reference issues and files) to insights on AI tooling, JWT testing, Azure updates, and a personal deep-dive into dynamic IIS deployments with GitHub Actions — there’s a lot to unpack.

I’ve gathered the highlights so you don’t have to. Let’s dig in.

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated.

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GitHub Digest

Want to target your conversations and reference a certain file, pull request or issue in the chat? Now you can, by using the @ sign to reference different elements in source or GitHub. Giving more context and more directions.

Copilot Chat now supports attaching references using the @ symbol - GitHub Changelog

Supercharge your Copilot Chat: Use @ to attach references! 📎✨ Talking with GitHub Copilot Chat just got a major boost: you can now attach references for richer, more productive conversations!…

github.blog/changelog/2025-06-03-copilot-chat-now-supports-attaching-references-using-the-symbol

In the previous edition I talked about a feature where you can assign a Copilot agent to an issue and let it start working on it. React to it via comments and get direct feedback. Now also available from GitHub Mobile, so it is even easier to use the agent.

GitHub Copilot coding agent (public preview) is now available on GitHub Mobile - GitHub Changelog

GitHub Copilot coding agent (public preview) is now available on GitHub Mobile With this release, Copilot Enterprise and Pro+ subscribers can assign Copilot to issues directly from their phone, interact…

github.blog/changelog/2025-06-03-github-copilot-coding-agent-now-available-on-github-mobile

Want to learn more about the Copilot agent, and how to use if effectively, then read the below article. It shows how to write and assign issues to the agent, and let it plan and create code.

Assigning and completing issues with coding agent in GitHub Copilot

Have you tried the new coding agent in GitHub Copilot? Here’s how developers are using it to work more efficiently.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/github-copilot/assigning-and-completing-issues-with-coding-agent-in-github-copilot

Shameless plug for my own blogpost: how to execute jobs using GitHub runners on multiple machines at once. In this case, I needed to deploy a webapplication on all the webservers we had. You can specify a runner, but then it will pick only one available for you, but what if you need to run it on all the webservers?

A matrix is the solution, but how to fill the matrix with all the available machines without specifying them explicitly? Read about a possible solution in my blog post:

Dynamic IIS Server Deployments with GitHub Actions

When we began migrating our application infrastructure to the cloud, we relied on AWS and traditional Windows servers running IIS. Although containers and Kubernetes dominate today’s conversations, there are organizations that still depend on familiar, “old-school” architectures. In one recent project, we found ourselves needing to deploy a web application across multiple IIS servers behind an AWS load balancer. Our challenge was simple in statement but complex in execution: how do you run the same GitHub Actions deployment workflow on every server in a scalable, maintainable way?

mindbyte.nl/2025/06/02/dynamic-iis-server-deployments-github-actions.html

Did you know that the Windows Server 2019 runner will be fully unsupported by June 30? There will be some brownout moments (where your actions will fail for a short time when you still use this version).

So do a search for windows-2019 in your organisations and migrate to a newer runner image!

Coding Corner

Leave it to Mark Russinovich, the CTO of Azure, to have a well thought opinion about AI and development. Read what he has to say about AI Vibe coding and the direction it is heading.

Reality check: Microsoft Azure CTO pushes back on AI vibe coding hype, sees ‘upper limit’

Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich challenges AI coding hype, warning that current tools can't handle complex software projects and suffer from reliability issues.

www.geekwire.com/2025/reality-check-microsoft-azure-cto-pushes-back-on-ai-vibe-coding-hype-sees-upper-limit-long-term

I m a fan of Aspire as it helps me setup the developer experience in a fast, and feature rich way. Even recently I needed to have a SQL server for my asp.net website, and that could all be arranged via a couple of lines of code in the Aspire AppHost.

But my knowledge about the testing part was limited, so this series of posts on how to setup integration tests using Aspire was more then welcome.

.NET Aspire dev-time orchestration for SQL Server integration tests | endjin

.NET Aspire's dev-time orchestration can be used to build integration tests that depend on a SQL Server database. This blog series explains how.

endjin.com/blog/2025/06/dotnet-aspire-db-testing-dev-orchestration

Azure Updates & Insights

Missed the latest and greatest from MS Build? Get the latest announcements in this article:

All the Azure news you don’t want to miss from Microsoft Build 2025

At Microsoft Build, we came together to explore the next frontier: how developers will shape an agentic web. What felt different this year was gathering at a time of such exponential technological progress, making the power of community and the exchange of ideas more vital than ever. We’re reminded that in times of rapid change, open collaboration is what drives innovation. 

azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/all-the-azure-news-you-dont-want-to-miss-from-microsoft-build-2025

.NET Nook

Found this little gem, written by an ex Xebia colleague. It allows you to test the JWT security. And yes, you should use proven third party libraries and not write your own code for JWT validations, but how do you make sure those third party libraries are indeed correct?

JWT Guard

JWT Guard is a free, open source, test suite written in C# for testing the security of JSON Web Token (JWT) implementations.

jwtguard.net

Cancellation tokens; pretty useful, even in tests. But I also forget about those easily. So do read on how to use those and why it is good to include them.

A Small but Powerful Feature in xUnit v3 You’ll Use Everywhere

Discover what's new in xUnit v3 for .NET testing, including powerful test-aware cancellation tokens. Learn how this simple yet impactful feature boosts test reliability, resource management, and async integration testing.

guiferreira.me/archive/2025/a-small-but-powerful-feature-in-xunit-v3-youll-use-everywhere

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!

Every week, I’m on the lookout for articles that catch my attention—tools, ideas, or announcements that challenge how we build, ship, and run software. Sharing them here isn’t just about news; it’s about helping each other sharpen our thinking and stay ahead.

This week, I found new ways to tailor GitHub Copilot to your own codebase, clever tricks for storing JSON in SQL, and the promise of AI stepping into the role of an SRE. Curious yet? Here’s what stood out.

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GitHub Digest

Turn Copilot into a subject matter expert with Spaces. This new feature, now in public preview, allows you to collect a set of data into a dedicated space, provide a custom instruction and use it to reason about the data.

The source data is in one or more repositories and is constantly kept up to date when you commit new data.

So try out the new Copilot Spaces functionality today and see how it can help you with your own data!

Introducing Copilot Spaces: A new way to work with code and context - GitHub Changelog

Today’s engineering teams struggle with fragmented knowledge. Having critical context scattered across code, documentation, and inside of team members’ heads can make it hard to get up to speed in…

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-29-introducing-copilot-spaces-a-new-way-to-work-with-code-and-context

Did you know that you could already add Copilot as a reviewer to your Pull Requests? And with the new changes, you can make this the default option as well. It even provides more and better comments on your proposed changes.

Copilot code review: Better coverage and more control - GitHub Changelog

Enhancements to Copilot code reviews: personal settings, improved comment quality, and expanded language support.

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-28-copilot-code-review-better-coverage-and-more-control

Coding Corner

Distributed systems are hard. So when you want to spread work over a cluster of nodes, this is not a trivial task. Seq, a database system to process Serilog data, uses such an architecture and the team describes in the below blog what is needed to operate such a setup.

Work Sharing in Seq Clusters

We've reviewed leader election and replication in Seq clusters. While these are tricky to get right, and involve nontrivial code, they're dwarfed in complexity by work sharing, which is the basis of Seq's scale-out functionality. Seq clusters ingest data at a modest rate over long periods of time, and then

blog.datalust.co/work-sharing-in-seq-clusters/amp

Azure Updates & Insights

I got the luxury of getting a very early demo of this new feature at the MVP summit, and I already liked the idea: an Azure SRE agent that proactively helps you running your software.

As the AI model has access to the telemetry, logging and settings of your app, it can provide all kinds of insights, optimize and even react to issues.

Microsoft is aiming for adding an AI agent to everything you are doing, so adding an AI agent in the role of an SRE makes sense as well.

Introducing Azure SRE Agent

Today we’re thrilled to introduce Azure SRE Agent, an AI-powered tool that makes it easier to sustain production cloud environments. SRE Agent helps respond to incidents quickly and effectively, alleviating the toil of managing production environments. Overall, it results in better service uptime and reduced operational costs.

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurepaasblog/introducing-azure-sre-agent/4414569

Azure already has a number of free services, some forever, others for the first 12 months. Recently added are the free Azure SQL Managed Instances. You can get a General Purpose or Next-Gen General Purpose (preview) Azure SQL Managed Instance at no cost for up to 12 months. You can run 500 databases on such a service, giving you plenty of room to test out this DB type.

Read the announcement for all the features and limitations:

Free SQL Managed Instance offer is now generally available

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azuresqlblog/free-sql-managed-instance-offer-is-now-generally-available/4415664

.NET Nook

Not sure if you need a document database or a SQL database? Why not use both, as most database systems can provide the best of both worlds:

Storing JSON data in relational databases using EF Core

Learn how to store and query JSON data in relational databases using EF Core with real-world examples for PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and MySQL.

blog.elmah.io/storing-json-data-in-relational-databases-using-ef-core

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back!

After a wave of announcements from Microsoft Build, this edition is packed with big shifts across GitHub, Azure, and .NET. From GitHub Copilot’s new autonomous coding agent to Visual Studio Code’s fresh Baseline and ReSharper integrations—there’s plenty to explore.

Also: Azure introduces Service Groups for smarter resource management, .NET Aspire gets a Copilot boost, and PostgreSQL proves it’s still powering major AI workloads.

Before we jump in—if you find this newsletter useful, help it land in your inbox by marking it as important or replying with a quick “got it” 👍

Here’s what’s inside this week:

• GitHub Copilot turns into your AI teammate

• Self-service data residency trials for GitHub Enterprise

• VS Code and Rider get major AI tooling upgrades

• OpenAI’s take on scaling Postgres in Azure

• Azure’s new Service Groups for cross-subscription resource views

• .NET Aspire 9.3 with Copilot integration

Let’s dive in!

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GitHub Digest

Some big announcements recently at MS Build; Copilot will be an even more coding buddy for you. It could already do a PR review, but now you can also assign it an issue.

It will take the work, analyze it, propose the code change, and present it in a pull request for you to review. You can also just chat with the agent: @github Open a pull request to refactor this query generator into its own class

Not only text but also images can be used as a source. Have data outside GitHub? Give the agent access to this data via an MCP server.

Available for Copilot Enterprise and Pro+ users and might need to be turned on via a policy.

GitHub Copilot: Meet the new coding agent

GitHub Copilot has a new feature: a coding agent that can implement a task or issue, run in the background with GitHub Actions, and more.

github.blog/news-insights/product-news/github-copilot-meet-the-new-coding-agent

Did you know that you could build AI projects directly from within GitHub? Models, prompts, evaluations etc are all available to create your next AI system with GitHub Models. Enable the preview under the org/repo options and get a nice Models tab where you can play with prompts using different models.

GitHub Models built into your repository is in public preview - GitHub Changelog

We’re making it easier than ever to take your AI project from idea to shipped, all within GitHub. With the new GitHub Models repository integration, you get the building blocks…

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-19-github-models-built-into-your-repository-is-in-public-preview

Your favorite Copilot Chat extension inside Visual Studio Code will move from a closed-source to an open-source license. Access to the source code has several advantages, like seeing what is actually sent to the servers, but also improving UI components or even learning how this works.

VS Code: Open Source AI Editor

We will open source the GitHub Copilot Chat extension. It’s the next step towards making VS Code an open source AI editor.

code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/05/19/openSourceAIEditor

It looked like a great feature; when somebody created a new repository, you became a watcher and received notifications about any changes. However, in organizations with so many repos, this was unmanageable. You could turn this behavior off, but now this will even become the default.

Sunset of automatic watching of repositories and teams - GitHub Changelog

  Following the initial sunset notice, we’ve deprecated the automatic watching of repositories and teams. We made this change in order to: Reduce notification noise: You’ll receive fewer unexpected notifications,…

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-22-sunset-of-automatic-watching-of-repositories-and-teams

Azure DevOps is still a great product and pretty on pair with GitHub (and for some things even further), but it is missing one thing: Copilot. For the AI functionality, you will need to explore GitHub. However, connecting or even converting to GitHub is easier than ever with the guidance and available tools.

Also the other way around; the Azure DevOps MCP server allows you to connect GitHub Copilot chat to Azure DevOps and give it instructions.

Don’t forget; that even licenses can be as cheap as free when you already have Azure DevOps subscriptions.

Azure DevOps with GitHub Repositories - Your path to Agentic AI

GitHub Copilot has evolved beyond a coding assistant in the IDE into an agentic teammate – providing actionable feedback on pull requests, fixing bugs and implementing new features, creating pull requests and responding to feedback, and much more. These new capabilities will transform every aspect of the software development lifecycle, as we are already seeing […]

devblogs.microsoft.com/blog/azure-devops-with-github-repositories-your-path-to-agentic-ai

Coding Corner

You don’t always need a new cloud-scale database as you have proven technology like Postgres. A recent presentation by OpenAI shows that they can scale Postgres on Azure to serve the infrastructure of their chatgpt services. Dive into the technicalities of running such a system.

OpenAI: Scaling PostgreSQL to the Next Level | PixelsTech

At the PGConf.dev 2025 Global Developer Conference, Bohan Zhang from OpenAI shared OpenAI’s best practices with PostgreSQL, offering a glimpse into the database usage of one of the most prominent unicorn company.

www.pixelstech.net/article/1747708863-openai%3a-scaling-postgresql-to-the-next-level

Building a website for many different browsers does raise the question if a used element or feature is available in all browsers. There are plenty of extensions in VS Code for this, but with the new Baseline support, this is baked into the editor itself.

Visual Studio Code now supports Baseline  |  Blog  |  web.dev

Learn about the new Baseline support in VS Code

web.dev/blog/baseline-vscode

Being a big fan of Rider, and used Resharper when I used Visual Studio back in my Windows days, I like the direction of introducing Resharper in Visual Studio Code.

During the public preview, you can use it for free. It also shows that Visual Studio Code is a serious IDE for any kind of development with these kinds of investments.

ReSharper Comes to Microsoft Visual Studio Code: Public Preview Now Open | The .NET Tools Blog

For the past 20 years, ReSharper has been the legendary .NET productivity tool that changed how millions of developers explore, write, and improve their code in Microsoft Visual Studio. Today, we're b

blog.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2025/05/19/resharper-comes-to-microsoft-visual-studio-code

Azure Updates & Insights

If you ever did the Azure Foundation exam (AZ-900), you learned that resources live inside a resource group, which is part of a subscription. With the newly introduced Service Groups, you get a lot more options for grouping your resources.

• Multiple Hierarchies: Service Groups enable scenarios where the resources can be grouped in different views for multiple purposes.

• Flexible Membership: Service Groups allow resources from different subscriptions to be grouped together, providing a unified view and management capabilities. They also allow the grouping of subscriptions, resource groups, and resources.

• Low Privilege Management: Service Groups are designed to operate with minimal permissions, ensuring that users can manage resources without needing excessive access rights.

Read all about the new Service Groups in the below MS Learn article:

Get started with Service Groups - Azure Governance

Learn how to use and manage resources with Service Groups.

learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/service-groups/overview?WT.mc_id=AZ-MVP-5004796&utm_source=pocket_shared

.NET Nook

An MCP server is an excellent way to connect your app to AI solutions as it opens a protocol to communicate. So what if you can hook up your CLI tool and use any MCP client to talk to it? The below blog article shows how you can create such a tool.

Turn your .NET CLI tool into a local MCP Server for use with GitHub Copilot in VS Code

I am the maintainer of a command line tool - T-SQL Analyzer, that helps you detect bad practices and anti-patterns in your SQL Server CREATE scripts. You can read more about the tool in my recent blog post.

erikej.github.io/mcp/dotnet/copilot/2025/05/06/mcp-dotnet-copilot.html

AI is everywhere, so also in the .NET Aspire dashboard. Use the Copilot integration to analyze your logs and traces. Or debug the different services and dependencies.

.NET Aspire 9.3 is here and enhanced with GitHub Copilot! - .NET Blog

.NET Aspire 9.3 is the biggest release of .NET Aspire yet, with the introduction of GitHub Copilot directly into the .NET Aspire Dashboard, updates for integrations, app model enhancements, and more.

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/introducing-dotnet-aspire-93

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!

This week brings a mix of practical improvements and bigger-picture shifts. GitHub now lets you self-provision data residency trials and organize issues with saved views—no sales calls needed. There’s thoughtful discussion about AI’s growing role in development, and Microsoft is making it easier to test your Bicep and Terraform files with Symphony.

Azure updates include PostgreSQL enhancements and long-awaited WebJobs support on Linux. In .NET land, we’ve got a low-code AI chatbot template, solid event-driven design with RabbitMQ, and a deep dive into OpenTelemetry.

Let’s jump in 👇

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GitHub Digest

Dreaming of setting up GitHub Enterprise Cloud in Europe, Australia, or the USA? Previously, you had to reach out to GitHub to choose your data residency. But here's the exciting update: you can now skip the sales process and dive straight into a 30-day trial. With a user-friendly self-service portal, you can effortlessly select your desired region and embark on your journey.

GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency now available for self-service trial - GitHub Changelog

GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency is now available for self-service trial and provisioning. New customers can initiate a 30-day free trial and begin using the platform without requiring sales…

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-16-github-enterprise-cloud-with-data-residency-now-available-for-self-service-trial

Organizing your important issue queries becomes a breeze with the magic of Saved views. Give them a name, and you can easily modify the ones you've already created.

Saved views on the Issues dashboard - GitHub Changelog

Following the recent updates to the Issues dashboard, you can now create saved views to quickly access and manage issues across repositories and organizations using custom queries. ➕ Getting started…

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-15-saved-views-on-the-issues-dashboard

If you haven't noticed the whirlwind of AI enhancements sweeping through GitHub, you might as well have been living in a cave. The platform is now teeming with AI-driven capabilities—coding, chatting, reviewing, issue creation, and more.

This technological surge begs the question: with all these new features, do we still need human developers? Thomas Dohmke, the CEO of GitHub, firmly believes we do. Discover his reasoning and delve deeper into his perspective.

GitHub CEO on Why We'll Still Need Human Programmers

Thomas Dohmke foresees that anyone will be able to build software with AI, but everyone will need to maintain the software they build.

thenewstack.io/github-ceo-on-why-well-still-need-human-programmers

Coding Corner

As you craft your software, you probably pen unit tests to ensure its integrity. But what about your Infrastructure as Code? It's still code, after all, and it deserves the same scrutiny.
Yet, many remain unaware of how to approach this. Enter Microsoft's Symphony, a framework designed to assist you in validating, previewing, and testing your Bicep and Terraform files. Curious about how it all comes together? Dive into the article below for a detailed exploration.

Testing IaC (Bicep) with Microsoft Symphony - Arinco

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) brings automation and consistency to cloud deployments, but testing can be a challenge. Bicep — Microsoft’s domain-specific

arinco.com.au/blog/testing-iac-bicep-with-microsoft-symphony

Azure Updates & Insights

In the realm of databases, I often find myself tethered to the familiar embrace of MS SQL Server, a steadfast companion in my digital endeavors. Yet, there exists another gem, often overlooked in my toolkit: PostgreSQL.

This robust and versatile database offers a treasure trove of features waiting to be explored. Its seamless integration with Azure only adds to its allure, beckoning me to delve deeper into its capabilities. Perhaps it's time to acquaint myself with the latest enhancements it has.

What's new with Postgres at Microsoft, 2025 edition

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/adforpostgresql/whats-new-with-postgres-at-microsoft-2025-edition/4410710

For a long time, running background jobs on App Services was a breeze with web jobs. All you had to do was drop an executable into a specific folder, set it up, and it would run either on a schedule or continuously. However, this handy feature was missing when you switched from Windows to Linux. The good news is that it's now fully available—App Service Webjobs are here for Linux users!

General Availability: App Service Webjobs on Linux

Last year, we introduced Webjobs on Linux as a preview feature. We are now excited to announce General Avilability for Webjobs on App Service Linux for both code an containers scenarios.

azure.github.io/AppService/2025/05/01/Azure-App-Service-Webjobs-Linux-GA.html

.NET Nook

I had no idea it was so easy to create an AI chatbot app! There's a handy template available, so with just a quick "dotnet new," you can get a great head start.

Using the new AI template to create a chatbot about a website

In this post I use the new Microsoft's new .NET AI template to ingest the contents of a website and create a chatbot that can answer questions with citations

andrewlock.net/using-the-new-ai-template-to-create-a-chatbot-about-a-website/?utm_source=pocket_shared

I remember having a blast with RabbitMQ back in the day! It's such an awesome message broker, and it still holds up today. It's fascinating how effortlessly it can be used to create event-driven systems.

Event-Driven Architecture in .NET with RabbitMQ

Learn how to implement flexible and resilient event-driven systems in .NET using RabbitMQ as a message broker with practical code examples for producers and consumers.

www.milanjovanovic.tech/blog/event-driven-architecture-in-dotnet-with-rabbitmq

I'm really starting to love OpenTelemetry! I originally came from using Serilog, which really set the standard for structured logging. OpenTelemetry is a whole different animal, but it's incredibly powerful for handling tracing, metrics, and logging all in one go.

Getting Started with OpenTelemetry: Observability Made Easy

Learn how OpenTelemetry simplifies observability by collecting traces, metrics, and logs for modern distributed applications.

www.funkysi1701.com/posts/2025/getting-started-with-opentelemetry

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!

A new week, a new edition packed with sharp insights and practical updates. From handling your open source legacy to fine-tuning GitHub usage, refreshing your SQL Server, and decoding what’s coming in C# 14 — there’s a lot worth your attention this time.

Highlights include:

• 🧹 How to sunset open source projects without burning bridges

• 🔒 GitHub clamps down on unauthenticated API access

• 💬 Debunking common excuses not to use Copilot

• 🧽 Spring cleaning your SQL Server (literally)

• 🧠 Clearer, more useful error messages

• 🌌 The Two Generals’ Problem meets Star Wars

• 📊 A closer look at how commitment discounts show up in FOCUS

• 🧱 What extension members mean for C#

• 🔍 A real-world performance mystery solved by the Duende team

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

Been there, done that; I had created, in 2014, a sink for Serilog to send log data to Elastic. It had a nice number of downloads and usage, but it was very hard for me to maintain this repo. I had to close it down last year, because sometimes you need to sunset these projects.

In the latest blog by GitHub you can find guidance on sunsetting open source projects.

Dos and don’ts when sunsetting open source projects

Three maintainers share their tips for gracefully sunsetting open source projects.

github.blog/open-source/maintainers/dos-and-donts-when-sunsetting-open-source-projects

GitHub has a very extensive API, allowing you to access all kinds of information. You can query it without being authenticated, but you will run into rate limits; the amount of calls you are allowed to do in a specific timeframe.

However, by allowing unauthenticated calls, it is hard to guard against misuse. So it is not strange that the rates will be lowered for not authenticated calls. So do make sure you are logged in, in order to get the higher rates.

Updated rate limits for unauthenticated requests - GitHub Changelog

To provide a secure and dependable experience on GitHub, we’re rolling out updates to rate limits for requests made without authentication. These changes will apply to operations like cloning repositories…

github.blog/changelog/2025-05-08-updated-rate-limits-for-unauthenticated-requests

Coding Corner

Struggling to get your colleagues to use Copilot? Then this post provides three misconceptions and their response to counter them.

GitHub Copilot–3 misconceptions why people don’t use it

As more as I’m motivating my teams to adopt and integrate GitHub Copilot in their development processes, the more I get push back with reaso...

bartwullems.blogspot.com/2025/04/github-copilot3-misconceptions-why.html

Sometimes your SQL server needs a spring cleaning as well. Brent Ozar gives you the tips to optimize and clear your server.

Your SQL Server Needs Spring Cleaning, Too. - Brent Ozar Unlimited®

First things first: pick up that filthy keyboard, take it over to the trash can, turn it upside down, and give it a good, vigorous shake. Next, go to your biggest SQL Server and run: [crayon-68211e5a9f041312441017/] This will give you an inventory of all of the objects in your databases, ordered from biggest to smallest....

www.brentozar.com/archive/2025/04/your-sql-server-needs-spring-cleaning-too

Some obvious tips, but still a good overview on how to write error message that are actually useful.

How to write error messages that actually help users rather than frustrate them

One of the most consistently neglected parts of today’s user experiences is our handling of errors. We’re so busy designing the happy paths through our products that we often forget to give the same care and attention to the times when things will go wrong

piccalil.li/blog/how-to-write-error-messages-that-actually-help-users-rather-than-frustrate-them

The famous two generals problem, this time as a Star Wars story. Regardless, it is a problem with distributed systems, so what is the solution?

It's a Trap! The Two Generals' Problem

In distributed systems, coordination is hard—really hard—especially when both parties depend on mutual confirmation to proceed, but there’s no guarantee their messages will arrive. This classic…

particular.net/blog/two-generals

Azure Updates & Insights

A lot of details on how commitments discounts (Reserved Instances or Saving Plans) are represented in FOCUS.

Learning FOCUS

Commitment discounts

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/finopsblog/learning-focus-commitment-discounts/4411405

.NET Nook

Some new keywords will come up in C# 14; extension members. Yes, you already have extension methods, but this extends (pun intended) it even more.

C# 14 - Exploring extension members - .NET Blog

C# 14 introduces extension members. See how the `extension` syntax offers flexibility for extension authors and continuity for developers using extensions

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/csharp-exploring-extension-members

A very extensive insight in the research done by the team at Duende when there was a bug reported in a specific version of their software causing it to slow down substantially. But was it really their code that was the culprit?

Duende Software Blog

We help companies using .NET to build identity and access control solutions for modern applications.

blog.duendesoftware.com/posts/20250506-microsoft-azure-sql-and-entity-framework-core-performance-issues-and-solution

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 👋

Apologies for skipping last week—I took a short holiday break. But this week, I’ve got a jam-packed edition full of updates worth diving into.

Inside you’ll find:

• 🧠 Choosing the right Copilot model for your workflow

• 🔐 Securing GitHub Actions with workflow analysis via CodeQL

• 💬 Sharing Copilot Chat conversations with a simple link

• 💻 New Windows Arm64 runners for GitHub Actions

• 📈 New data trends from the GitHub Innovation Graph

• 🧰 JetBrains launches its own AI coding model

• 🗝️ OAuth client assertions in .NET

• 🌍 Microsoft’s major European digital commitments

• 💸 Cost Management updates

• 🚢 What deployment might look like for .NET Aspire apps

Let’s dive in and explore what’s new!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated.

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GitHub Digest

Did you know that when you reference an issue in a pull request description, it can close this issue for you when the PR is merged? Just use something like closes #123 and if will set up this relationship and action.

If you did know and actually just want to reference, but not auto-close, then you are in luck; with this new option, you can disable the auto-close functionality.

Users can now choose whether merging linked pull requests automatically closes the issue · GitHub Changelog

Linking a pull request to an issue makes it easy for collaborators to see that work for the issue is underway. Today, when a linked pull request is merged, the…

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-23-users-can-now-choose-whether-merging-linked-pull-requests-automatically-closes-the-issue

So many models nowadays to pick from; do I need to use 4.5, 3o, 4.1o? The mini variants? Or Gemini? What if you can use GitHub Copilot itself to help you with this choice?

Picking the right GitHub Copilot model

GitHub recently released documentation on all the large language models available in GitHub Copilot. The list is ever expanding, especially when you have previews turned on for your account. But its still hard for many people to pick the right model for their task.

jessehouwing-net.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/jessehouwing.net/github-copilot-picking-the-right-model/amp

The next article provides insights into the different models and options as well:

GitHub Copilot - Methods, modes, and Models: Which one is the best?

When someone asks "what's the best [insert type of tool]", the answer usually is "it depends". What's...

dev.to/mishmanners/github-copilot-methods-modes-and-models-which-one-is-the-best-g6f

The ARM processors are very efficient CPUs, so no wonder that these machines are now also requested more and more. They are also now available as a GitHub Actions Runner, making it a very affordable and interesting solution for CICD.

New Windows Arm64 Hosted Runners for GitHub Actions Accelerates Developer Workflows

Windows Arm64 hosted runners are now available for GitHub Actions, bringing native CI/CD support for Arm64 Windows applications.

newsroom.arm.com/blog/windows-arm64-runners-git-hub-actions

Security not only is a concern of your code, but also your pipelines. Vulnerabilities in your CICD workflows can impact the security of your application. CodeQL will now scan and analyse your workflow files as well. Helping you to set the minimal required permissions for example.

GitHub Actions workflow security analysis with CodeQL is now generally available · GitHub Changelog

GitHub code scanning now offers enhanced security protection for your GitHub Actions workflow files through CodeQL analysis, which is now generally available. This feature enables you to identify and remediate…

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-22-github-actions-workflow-security-analysis-with-codeql-is-now-generally-available

The Innovation Graph shows you all kinds of data about public software development based on the data collected by GitHub.

Racing into 2025 with new GitHub Innovation Graph data

Discover the latest trends and insights on public software development activity on GitHub with the quarterly release of data for the Innovation Graph.

github.blog/news-insights/policy-news-and-insights/racing-into-2025-with-new-github-innovation-graph-data

The Copilot is now also updated in the JetBrains IDEs, giving you the ability to use the Edits feature.

Copilot Edits for JetBrains IDEs is generally available · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Edits is now generally available in JetBrains IDEs. This powerful feature lets you refactor, optimize, and iterate on your code faster—across one or multiple files—all from within Copilot Chat.…

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-28-copilot-edits-for-jetbrains-ides-is-generally-available

Coding Corner

A couple of issues ago I mentioned that yet another major .net open-source maintainer decided to go commercial, in this case the author of AutoMapper and Mediatr, Jimmy Bogard. He is sharing some more implementation details how he thinks this commercial model should work.

JetBrains takes its own approach to creating an AI code model. This one, called Mellum, is a self-trained model primarily focused on coding tasks. It is not yet production-ready as it still needs fine-tuning, but it is interesting to see how a company like JetBrains is exploring this as well.

A series of articles about security, particularly in a microservices architecture.

Authentication and authorization in a microservice architecture: Part 1 - Introduction

Authentication and authorization in a microservice architecture: Part 1 - Introduction

microservices.io/post/architecture/2025/04/25/microservices-authn-authz-part-1-introduction.html

Azure Updates & Insights

It is hard to deny that the world and the relations between countries have changed since the new president took over in the USA. Contracts and agreements that were taken for granted are now questioned and might not be so secure anymore.

One large example is the use of cloud systems which, when used in e.g. Europe, are being reconsidered since the USA can potentially get access over the data as the cloud like Azure or AWS is run by an American company.

Microsoft is recognizing this issue and responds with a set of commitments. Including building more European datacenters, adding AI capabilities in Europe, allowing European companies to offer MS services in their datacenters, to setting up legal entities in Europe.

A big step up by Microsoft, recognizing the sentiment and fear that is spreading through Europe.

Microsoft announces new European digital commitments - Microsoft On the Issues

As a multinational company, Microsoft believes in trans-Atlantic ties that promote mutual economic growth and prosperity.

blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/04/30/european-digital-commitments

Did you know that you can ask the Azure Copilot about the largest spending in your subscriptions? That and more is described in the latest Cost Management updates for the month of April:

Microsoft Cost Management updates—April 2025 

azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-cost-management-updates-april-2025

Are you offering AI features to your users? Then you need to securely host them behind an API Gateway. With the AI Gateway enhancements, you can easily extend the capabilities to do limiting, metrics, caching and content safety.

AI Gateway Enhancements: LLM policies, Real-Time API support, Content Safety, and more

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/integrationsonazureblog/ai-gateway-enhancements-llm-policies-real-time-api-support-content-safety-and-mo/4409828

.NET Nook

A topic that pops up while working with Aspire; it works great for local development, but how do I get this to production? David Fowler took that same question and wrote down what the user story around deployment is about.

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!

Hope you had a relaxing Easter break! This week’s edition brings another round of updates, tools, and insights to keep your dev game sharp. From new Copilot capabilities to GitHub issue automation and FinOps improvements—there’s plenty to dig into.

• 🧩 Create GitHub issue hierarchies with the API

• 🧠 GPT-4.1 now available in GitHub Copilot

• 🔗 Share Copilot Chat sessions with a link

• 🐳 Run Azure SQL locally on macOS with Docker

• 📢 FinOps Toolkit adds alerting features

• 🔐 OAuth2 client assertions in ASP.NET Core

• ⚙ Extend the Aspire Dashboard with custom commands

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

Want to make use of the new hierarchical issues in GitHub? From the UI, this is easy, but not so from the command line. Jesse Houwing presents a solution using the GraphQL endpoints:

Create GitHub issue hierarchy using the API

The newly introduced GitHub Issues updates have added support for issue types as well as parent-child hierarchies. Unfortunately, the GitHub CLI hasn't yet been updated to support setting up this tree structure.

jessehouwing.net/create-github-issue-hierarchy-using-the-api

More and more choices, it is becoming harder to understand which to use. But OpenAI GPT 4.1 is now also available for GitHub Copilot. The larger token size means more context can be submitted, providing more details to the model to give you the best answer.

OpenAI GPT-4.1 now available in public preview for GitHub Copilot and GitHub Models · GitHub Changelog

OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-4.1, is now available in GitHub Copilot and GitHub Models, bringing OpenAI’s newest model to your coding workflow. This model outperforms GPT-4o across the board, with major…

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-14-openai-gpt-4-1-now-available-in-public-preview-for-github-copilot-and-github-models

You no longer need to copy/paste the output of a Copilot chat before you can send it to somebody else. Now you can use the Share conversation options, which will return you a unique link pointing back to the conversation. Ideal to share something that you just reasoned about and discussed with a model.

Share Copilot Chat conversations in public preview · GitHub Changelog

Sharing a Copilot Chat used to mean screenshots and copy-paste. Now it’s as easy as sending a link. Shared conversations are now available in public preview in immersive chat on…

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-17-share-copilot-chat-conversations-2

Coding Corner

Been there, not done that; I was a Windows user for many years, but switched to the Mac a couple of years back. Of course, you do miss some tools, like SQL Server Management Studio. You can use Visual Studio Code or Azure Data Explorer (which will be retired BTW), but here are some other tips:

From Windows to Mac: Hosting Azure SQL locally without missing SSMS

Switched to macOS and missing SSMS? Here’s how I export an Azure SQL database, run SQL Server in Docker, and restore it using Azure Data Studio or sqlpackage.

matthiasguentert.net/from-windows-to-mac-hosting-azure-sql-locally-without-missing-ssms

Although I primarily use GitHub nowadays, I worked with Azure DevOps as well. It is certainly alive and kicking, with new updates still being released:

Azure Boards + GitHub: Recent Updates - Azure DevOps Blog

Features improve linking, build traceability, and state transitions. making it easier to track work items across code, PRs, commits, and pipelines.

devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/azure-boards-github-recent-updates

Azure Updates & Insights

Did you know I also share Azure FinOps tips and tricks in my other newsletter? I have a passion for FinOps, so I like to share that there is a new release of the FinOps toolkit.

An interesting new feature: alerting. Inform developers about optimizations, or even better, automatically perform the optimization for them (with some approval/checks).

FinOps toolkit March 2025

Whether you consider yourself a FinOps practitioner, someone who’s enthusiastic about driving cloud efficiency and maximizing the value you get from the cloud or were just asked to look at ways to reduce cost, the FinOps toolkit has something for you. This month, you’ll find a new solution for staying informed about cost optimization opportunities with FinOps alerts, expanded coverage of managed exports in FinOps hubs, the addition of the reservation break-even point and performance improvements in Power BI reports, and much more! Read on for details.

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/finopsblog/what’s-new-in-finops-toolkit-0-9-–-march-2025/4403658

.NET Nook

Learn more about the Client Credentials flows in OAuth2 with these examples.

Implement client assertions for OAuth client credential flows in ASP.NET Core

This blog implements client assertions using an OAuth client credential flow in ASP.NET Core. Client assertions provide a secure way for client authentication without sharing a secret, enhancing th…

damienbod.com/2025/04/21/implement-client-assertions-for-oauth-client-credential-flows-in-asp-net-core

The Aspire dashboard already provides a wealth of information for your local development; it connects your various applications and dependencies together, consolidates all the logs and metrics, and even makes a map of the dependencies.

But did you know you can add your own custom command as well? Like resetting your database, or running a migration? Read more on how to customize the dashboard and add the plumbing to your code.

Enhancing the .NET Aspire Dashboard with Custom HTTP Commands

The .NET Aspire Dashboard is a centralized view into distributed application insights, environment variables, logs, traces, and monitoring capabilities. The .NET Aspire Dashboard isn't just a traditional insights dashboard; it also allows developers to manage applications to some extent. For example, resources can be started and stopped directly from the

www.kallemarjokorpi.fi/blog/enhancing-the-net-aspire-dashboard-with-custom-http-commands

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 👋

After a couple of quieter weeks, this edition brings a well-rounded batch of updates. GitHub is rolling out sub-issues and new runner images, and there’s some much-needed clarity around MCP.

On top of that, there are solid reads on real-world Rust adoption, big performance gains in NuGet, and the evolving sustainability of open source libraries like AutoMapper and MediatR.

Here’s what’s inside this week:

• 🧩 GitHub sub-issues & new OS runner images

• 🧠 What MCP is (and why it matters)

• ⚙️ Datadog’s Rust rewrite for better performance

• 🚀 NuGet restore gets a 16x speed boost in .NET 9

• 💸 AutoMapper & MediatR move to commercial licensing

• 💾 Deep dive into Azure File Storage & access tiers

• 🧵 .NET 10 Preview 3, VB history, and Jon Skeet on records

Let’s dive in and explore the latest across the GitHub, Azure, and .NET landscape! New here? Subscribe here to stay updated.

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GitHub Digest

From a simple issue with a title and description to nested issues like we know from Azure DevOps; issue management is coming a long way and went through some needed improvements. Learn more how GitHub build this sub-issue system:

Introducing sub-issues: Enhancing issue management on GitHub

Learn how we leveraged sub-issues to build and refine sub-issues, breaking down larger tasks into smaller, manageable ones.

github.blog/engineering/architecture-optimization/introducing-sub-issues-enhancing-issue-management-on-github

Yup, the latest OS versions are available for selection as an agent to run your GitHub tasks on. They will become the official latest later this year.

GitHub Actions: macOS 15 and Windows 2025 images are now generally available · GitHub Changelog

GitHub Actions: macOS 15 and Windows 2025 images are now generally available

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-10-github-actions-macos-15-and-windows-2025-images-are-now-generally-available

As the title already suggests; what is that MCP and why is GitHub doing something with it:

What the heck is MCP and why is everyone talking about it?

Everyone's talking about MCP these days when it comes to large language models (LLMs)—here’s what you need to know.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/llms/what-the-heck-is-mcp-and-why-is-everyone-talking-about-it

Coding Corner

I know nothing about Rust, but it is interesting to read how it is possible to write even more optimized code by using a language like Rust. The Datadog team did not know Rust either, but found a couple of arguments to use this language for their telemetry delivering code. Read how their experience went and the gains they got.

Squeezing every millisecond: How we rebuilt the Datadog Lambda Extension in Rust

Learn how we rewrote the Datadog Lambda Extension in Rust, cutting cold starts by 82 percent, shrinking the binary 87 percent, and slashing memory use without sacrificing observability.

www.datadoghq.com/blog/engineering/datadog-lambda-extension-rust

You are most likely using NuGet restore daily; getting all the packages that your code depends on. The faster it works, the better. Not only does it keep you sane during development work, it also helps to keep the compute minute down in CICD scenarios, thus saving cost.

So there is a lot to gain to make this process faster, and it looks like that with dotnet 9 they were able to give it a 16 times speed boost:

How we ended up rewriting NuGet Restore in .NET 9 - .NET Blog

Learn about the journey that led to a full rewrite of the NuGet Restore algorithm in .NET 9, achieving break-through scale and performance.

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/rewriting-nuget-restore-in-dotnet-9

After FluentValidations and MassTransit, the popular frameworks AutoMapper and Mediatr will also go commercial. Although an understandable move, it also shows that being successful with Open Source is hard.

Azure Updates & Insights

A lot of details about Azure File Storage. What is it, how to use it and what is the most cost effective way to run it:

Azure Files Storage And Access Tiers: A Comprehensive Guide - CHARBEL NEMNOM - MVP | MCT | CCSP | CISM - Cloud & CyberSecurity

This guide will delve into the details of Azure Files Storage, compare the different access tiers, and explain the latest billing models—including the

charbelnemnom.com/azure-files-storage-and-access-tiers

.NET Nook

Want to play with the next version of dotnet? Preview 3 is available to try out.

.NET 10 Preview 3 · dotnet/core · Discussion #9846

Today, we are excited to announce the third preview release of .NET 10 with enhancements across the .NET Runtime, SDK, libraries, C#, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, .NET MAUI, and more. Check out the full r...

github.com/dotnet/core/discussions/9846

GW Basic, Basica and Visual Basic; it was my first start with programming languages long long time ago. And Visual Basis is not dead yet, it is still a supported language and although it wont get any new features, you can still use it.

Read more about the history of the langauge that started many developers:

Visual Basic: The Language That Brought Programming To The Masses | Build5Nines

In the vibrant and fast-paced history of software development, a few languages have quietly but profoundly reshaped the landscape. Among these is Visual Basic

build5nines.com/visual-basic-the-language-that-brought-programming-to-the-masses

Jon Skeet knows a thing about computers; so when he writes about his experience with Records, it is worth a read:

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

After a short break for the Microsoft MVP Summit, I’m back with a fresh edition—and there’s no shortage of updates! This one is heavy on GitHub Copilot news, with features like Agent Mode, Pro+ plans, and image support rolling out, alongside broader improvements across GitHub Actions, JetBrains IDEs, and workflow automation.

Beyond GitHub, I’ve included insights on MCP integrations, .NET caching strategies, and the evolution of Azure’s Service Fabric—plus a handy C# to TypeScript cheatsheet if you’re switching between stacks.

Here’s what’s in store this week:

• 🧠 GitHub Copilot goes full Agent Mode with new plans & model support

• ⚙️ Breaking changes in GitHub Actions & enhanced workflow tooling

• 🖼️ Image input in Copilot Chat and multi-IDE support

• 🌐 Azure Functions + MCP = powerful AI agent integrations

• 🧩 Redis caching, dynamic queries in EF, and cross-language cheatsheets

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

Have you ever heard about Nix? It is an alternative to GitHub Actions, trying to solve some of the shortcomings of GH:

If you still use the old cache service, then you will be out of luck on the 15th of April, as GitHub will shut down the old service. Read about the upcoming changes and the migration plan below:

Notification of upcoming breaking changes in GitHub Actions · GitHub Changelog

Decommissioned cache service brownouts GitHub has migrated customers to a new cache service and will now be shutting down the old service. This process will include brownouts of the old…

github.blog/changelog/2025-03-20-notification-of-upcoming-breaking-changes-in-github-actions

Did you know that there is a full-screen GitHub Copilot mode on the GH website? It has many nice features, which got even better with the latest release, like previewing files, editing GH Issues, etc.

Instant previews, flexible editing, and working with issues in Copilot available in public preview · GitHub Changelog

Inspired by our previous release, working with Copilot Chat on GitHub has become even more seamless. You can instantly preview HTML files, edit files you’ve created, and work on issues…

github.blog/changelog/2025-03-18-instant-previews-flexible-editing-and-working-with-issues-in-copilot-chat-preview

Not only Visual Studio Code get the nice new improvements of Copilot Edit, but it is also available in the JetBrains IDEs.

Enhance your productivity with Copilot Edits in JetBrains IDEs · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Edits support is now released in JetBrains IDEs! This update allows you to quickly refactor, optimize, and iterate more efficiently across multiple files. What’s new ✨ Use Copilot Edits…

github.blog/changelog/2025-03-20-enhance-your-productivity-with-copilot-edits-in-jetbrains-ides

Yeah, you can now also upload pictures to the Copilot chat on the github.com website and use them as input for your queries.

Copilot Chat on github.com adds support for images · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Chat on github.com adds support for images

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-02-copilot-chat-on-github-com-adds-support-for-images

Using GitHub Actions Runner Controller? Then read up on what is new in this article by Ken Muse:

What’s New in GitHub Actions Runner Controller - Ken Muse

The new version of Actions Runner Controller has performance fixes, improved configurability, and a new approach to metrics. This post reviews those changes.

www.kenmuse.com/blog/whats-new-in-github-arc

Vibe Coding, where two engineers can now create the tech debt of at least 50 engineers.

And yes, it is now possible in GH Copilot with the new Agent mode and MCP support. Plus a bunch more announcements like new models, and the Pro plan.

Vibe coding with GitHub Copilot: Agent mode and MCP support rolling out to all VS Code users

In celebration of MSFT’s 50th anniversary, we’re rolling out Agent Mode with MCP support to all VS Code users. We are also announcing the new GitHub Copilot Pro+ plan w/ premium requests, the general availability of models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, next edit suggestions for code completions & the Copilot code review agent.

github.blog/news-insights/product-news/github-copilot-agent-mode-activated

You already have some different plans for GH Copilot, but this is the new Pro+ plan. This gives you access to the latest models and has higher usage tiers. Looks like AI compute is expensive :-)

Announcing GitHub Copilot Pro+ · GitHub Changelog

Announcing GitHub Copilot Pro+

github.blog/changelog/2025-04-04-announcing-github-copilot-pro

Coding Corner

You most likely are using some sort of AI tool in your dev work, so read up on how to make the best use of these.

Here’s how I use LLMs to help me write code

Online discussions about using Large Language Models to help write code inevitably produce comments from developers who’s experiences have been disappointing. They often ask what they’re doing wrong—how come some …

simonwillison.net/2025/Mar/11/using-llms-for-code

Hard to miss all the news around MCP, the connector for AI and sources. This site collects them all:

Azure Updates & Insights

Did you know that Service Fabric is powering a large part of the distributed logic in Azure since 2015? It is a pretty capable system but is rarely used outside Azure internals. And now we have yet another Fabric. So what is the difference and should you still use Service Fabric:

Azure Service Fabric: Is It Still Relevant? Service Fabric Vs Microsoft Fabric? | Build5Nines

Microsoft Azure Service Fabric has been a foundational platform for building and managing microservices-based applications since its release. However, with

build5nines.com/azure-service-fabric-is-it-still-relevant-service-fabric-vs-microsoft-fabric

Continuing on the MCP hype; the Azure Functions team created a cool integration so you can create MCP connections directly with Functions:

Build AI agent tools using remote MCP with Azure Functions

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/appsonazureblog/build-ai-agent-tools-using-remote-mcp-with-azure-functions/4401059?

.NET Nook

Caching; it most of the time solves one issue, but introduces another one. You can get performance improvements, but you are stuck with the invalidation of data when it is no longer fresh.

But regardless of this; Redis provides an excellent cache solution, so read how you can include this in your projects.

🚀 Redis Cache in .NET Core: A Beginner’s End-to-End Guide!

Transforming your app into a performance powerhouse!

dotnetfullstackdev.medium.com/redis-cache-in-net-core-a-beginners-end-to-end-guide-8584379f6f0e

Are you a C# developer who needs to do front-end dev as well in a language like TypeScript? This guide can help you by showing common constructions side by side.

C# to Typescript Cheatsheet

As a consultant, sometimes, I have to switch from a project to another. My main (and favorite)...

dev.to/this-is-learning/c-to-typescript-cheatsheet-gp6

A not to unknown problem; you need to select one or more columns dynamically from a database using Entity Framework. But how to specify at runtime which columns you actually need to fetch?

Solving Problems you wouldn't have if you wouldn't use Entity Framework

Long title - short intro? Well - I recently came across my own stupidity and wanted to display that to the world. Basically, how to dynamically selecting a column with Entity Framework.

steven-giesel.com/blogPost/1b432667-3b2d-4c41-8557-b4c3a3c554d9

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

This week’s edition is packed with GitHub security insights, Azure innovations, and practical .NET updates. From GitHub Actions security incidents to optimizing cloud costs with FinOps, there’s plenty to explore.

Before we dive in, a quick heads-up: Next week, I’ll be at the Microsoft MVP Summit, so there won’t be a newsletter. Due to jet lag, the week after is also uncertain—but I’ll be back soon with fresh insights!

Here’s what’s in store this week:

• 🔐 GitHub Actions security risks & the end of long-lived PATs

• 💡 Why great documentation is essential for developers

• 🚀 How Microsoft Copilot scales using Azure CosmosDB

• 🏗️ Adding user login to Azure apps with just Bicep

• ⚡ Monitoring .NET apps with Grafana & optimizing FinOps in Azure

With so much happening in the cloud and developer ecosystem, let’s dive in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated.

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GitHub Digest

My colleague Rob Bos, an MVP and GitHub Star, knows his stuff about GitHub Security, particularly about GitHub Actions. Recently, there was a security incident, and he wrote down his thoughts in this LinkedIn Pulse article:

Really keeping your GitHub Actions usage secure

Last Friday what we expected happened: a much used GitHub Action got compromised, read all about it here at the StepSecurity blog where they explain that they detected the issue and jumped into action: https://www.stepsecurity.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/really-keeping-your-github-actions-usage-secure-rob-bos-oc4qe

Personal Access Tokens are pretty handy; just a long string, you get access to whatever you want. Unfortunately; when someone else has that PAT as well, they can do the same.

Short-lived tokens are a more secure alternative, see how you can apply those in your workflows.

The end of GitHub PATs: You can’t leak what you don’t have

Ditch GitHub PATs for better security. Learn how to replace long-lived tokens and reduce your risk of leaked credentials.

www.chainguard.dev/unchained/the-end-of-github-pats-you-cant-leak-what-you-dont-have

Traditionally, you needed to buy GitHub Advanced Security as one complete add-on to your enterprise plan. That would give you all the components like secret scanning, dependency management, and code scanning.

Next month; there will be a license change, allowing you to buy secret scanning and code scanning separately. Read more to see how you can benefit from this change.

Evolving GitHub Advanced Security: Greater flexibility, easier to access

Starting April 1, 2025, GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) will be unbundled and available as two standalone security products: GitHub Secret Protection & GitHub Code Security. Additionally, GitHub Team plan customers can purchase these security products without requiring a GitHub Enterprise subscription.

resources.github.com/evolving-github-advanced-security

Coding Corner

Do not underestimate the need for documentation. The easier a developer can get started with his/her tasks, the cheaper the operation will be.

Every Developer Deserves Great Documentation

Sixty minutes on the clock, a room full of cryptic clues, and no clear way out. Alex is up to the challenge. After all, they’re a developer by day, so this evening’s escape room should provide delightfully puzzling entertainment. Collecting hints from nearby objects, they’ll rearrange them into enough solutions to break out. Except Alex […]

everydeveloper.com/every-developer-deserves-great-documentation

Azure Updates & Insights

Did you know that MS Copilot is using Azure CosmosDB for their storage needs? Find out how they use this database to scale out to millions of users.

How Microsoft Copilot scales to millions of users with Azure Cosmos DB - Azure Cosmos DB Blog

Discover 3 ways Microsoft Copilot uses Azure Cosmos DB to manage data at scale, with low operational burden.

devblogs.microsoft.com/cosmosdb/how-microsoft-copilot-scales-to-millions-of-users-with-azure-cosmos-db

Bicep (and Arm) are mostly used for the management plane; you can instruct it to provision resources, but not access the data plane. For that, you need a system like Terraform. For example; you can deploy a database, but not do anything with that database like creating a user.

That is changing with the Graph extension, which gives you programmatic access to Entra ID. See how that works when you want to add a user login to your app using Bicep only.

Easily add login to your Azure app with Bicep

Did you know that you can now add user login to app deployed on Azure, with just Bicep code? No Portal, CLI, SDK, or app code needed!

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azuredevcommunityblog/easily-add-login-to-your-azure-app-with-bicep/4386493

The FinOps toolkit is a collection of tools, processes and PowerBI dashboards to help you in the Azure FinOps world. Version 0.8 is released recently, so find out what is new.

What’s new in FinOps toolkit 0.8 – February 2025

Whether you consider yourself a FinOps practitioner, someone who's enthusiastic about driving cloud efficiency and maximizing the value you get from the cloud or were just asked to look at ways to reduce cost, the FinOps toolkit has something for you. This month, you'll find a complete refresh of Power BI with a new design, greatly improved performance, and the ability to calculate reservation savings for both EA and MCA; FinOps hubs have a new Data Explorer dashboard and simpler public networking architecture; and many more small updates and improvements across the board. Read on for details!

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/finopsblog/what’s-new-in-finops-toolkit-0-8-–-february-2025/4391573

.NET Nook

Want a simple way to get metrics from your app and show it in Grafana? Using a docker container it is relatively easy to connect those together.

Setting Up Grafana for Monitoring .NET Apps with Docker

Set up Grafana with Docker and Prometheus to monitor .NET apps. Learn to visualize metrics and create real-time dashboards.

www.funkysi1701.com/posts/2025/setting-up-grafana

First; don’t use SMS authentication as it is no longer secure. But next to that; it is a good example of how to extend the ASP.NET Core Identity system.

Implement Phone verification, 2FA using ASP.NET Core Identity

This post shows how to implement phone (SMS) verification and two-factor authentication (2FA) using ASP.NET Core Identity. The solution integrates phone-based verification and 2FA mechanisms. The i…

damienbod.com/2025/03/03/implement-phone-verification-2fa-using-asp-net-core-identity

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!
This week’s edition is packed with updates on GitHub security, AI-powered secret scanning, and cost-effective Azure solutions. From Copilot’s expanding use cases to optimizing serverless functions for cost savings, there’s plenty to explore.

Here’s what’s in store:

• 🔐 GitHub’s new secret risk assessment and AI-driven secret scanning

• 🤖 Copilot for more than just developers—how product and security teams can use it

• 💡 Should all developers learn Infrastructure as Code?

• ⚡ Optimizing Azure Functions for cost-effectiveness

• 🏗️ Connecting JavaScript frontends with .NET using Aspire

• 🚀 Heroku now officially supports .NET—how does it compare?

With so many new tools and insights, let’s dive right in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

GitHub will provide additional tooling and dashboarding soon to highlight any risks based on potential secrets in your organisation. We all know we should not check in secrets, but we also know it will happen. Make sure you are actively scanning, blocking and rotating leaked secrets.

Find secrets in your organization with the secret risk assessment · GitHub Changelog

Find secrets in your organization with the secret risk assessment

github.blog/changelog/2025-03-04-find-secrets-in-your-organization-with-the-secret-risk-assessment

Copilot is mostly targetted at developers, which is not completly fair; also for non development activities, Copilot can help you out; converting text, generating reports, explaining code etc. See the blog post for more examples:

Not just for developers: How product and security teams can use GitHub Copilot

Discover how product managers, security professionals, and more use GitHub Copilot to streamline tasks, automate workflows, and boost productivity.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/github-copilot/not-just-for-developers-how-product-and-security-teams-can-use-github-copilot

Detecting passwords is not an easy tasks; when is something a potential password and not just a string. Traditionally, regular expressions are used to get matches to some predictable string formats. However, with AI you can improve the detection rate and reduce the noise. Find out how the GitHub team implemented an AI based secret scanner:

Finding leaked passwords with AI: How we built Copilot secret scanning

Passwords are notoriously difficult to detect with conventional programming approaches. AI can help us find passwords better because it understands context.

github.blog/engineering/platform-security/finding-leaked-passwords-with-ai-how-we-built-copilot-secret-scanning

Coding Corner

It is not all fun and games with AI solutions. There are serious risks attached to the use of AI. The below risk repository will put you back into reality:

The AI Risk Repository

A comprehensive living database of over 1000 AI risks categorized by their cause and risk domain

airisk.mit.edu

Nowadays, developers need to do a lot; we want DevOps, FinOps, SecOps, T-shaped, Agile etc. Is that fair to expect? Just software engineering is already hard enough? Should we also expect the developer to build a Terraform file?

Should all developers learn Infrastructure as Code?

Should all developers deploying to the cloud and/or Kubernetes learn how to use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools?

itnext.io/should-all-developers-learn-infrastructure-as-code-a77e7feefbc8

Azure Updates & Insights

Yet Another Library…would not be the first time I need to switch to another package to do the same thing. However, this time there is a focus on data transfer/movement.

Simplify your .NET data transfers with the new Azure Storage Data Movement library

Announcing the release of the modern Azure Storage Data Movement library, designed to simplify your data transfer experience when using Azure Blob Storage and Azure Files. This new library and the extension libraries for Azure Storage and Azure Files are now available as of February 11, 2025. In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits and how to get started with the library.

devblogs.microsoft.com/azure-sdk/simplify-your-net-data-transfers-with-the-new-azure-storage-data-movement-library

Azure Functions is one of the few services that actually is charged per use. Most other services are based on what you provision, even if there is no usage/traffic. That makes Azure Functions an attractive platform for cost effective operations. Chris updated his guide on how to implement Azure Functions with cost considerations in mind.

Azure Functions Cost Considerations And Optimization | Build5Nines

Azure Functions is a powerful serverless compute service that enables organizations to build event-driven applications with minimal infrastructure management.

build5nines.com/azure-functions-cost-considerations-and-optimization

.NET Nook

Want to have a Javascript frontend and a dotnet backend? Somehow you need to connect those two together. Aspire is the tool to do so. Learn how to connect a Nuxt frontend to a dotnet backend and enhance your developer experience.

.NET Aspirations - Tailor It To Your Stack

You might have already seen blog posts and videos showing how .NET Aspire can enhance our local development environment, using an example with a Blazor SPA and an ASP.NET Core API. However, not everyone uses Blazor; many prefer a JavaScript framework for front-end development.

techwatching.dev/posts/aspire-tailor-to-your-stack

The C# Dev Kit is the solution for building dotnet apps inside Visual Studio Code. And with the February Update, some nice features are introduced like hot reloading, debugging and testing support.

C# Dev Kit Updates: .NET Aspire, Hot Reload, and More! - .NET Blog

Exploring the latest features and enhancements in the C# Dev Kit for VS Code including .NET Aspire orchestration support, new hot reload features, enhanced debugging capabilities, and more!

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/csharp-on-visual-studio-code-just-got-better-with-enhancements-to-csharp-dev-kit

Back in the days, way before Azure was a thing, there was something like Heroku; with a simple git push you made your application available to the world. It was almost a serverless framework before we even knew what it was. But it was for the cool kids, the non MS devs, with all their fancy databases, caches and languages.

Along came AppHarbor, which was a similar service but for .net. You could host your app, with some add-ons by performing that simple git push command. Unfortunately, they stopped in 2022 as there are now many alternatives.

But now, even Heroku has official .NET support! Curious to see how it stands compared to current solutions.

Heroku Now Officially Supports .NET! | HackerNoon

.NET developers now have access to the officially supported buildpack for .NET, which means you can now deploy your .NET apps onto Heroku with just one command.

hackernoon.com/heroku-now-officially-supports-net

Dotnet 10 comes with C# 14 and of course, they are still adding new features to the language:

C# 14 - New Features and Updates

C# 14, supported on .NET 10, introduces features like field-backed properties, implicit span conversions, and enhanced lambda expressions, simplifying code and boosting performance. Developers can download the .NET 10 SDK from the official .NET downloads page or through Visual Studio 2022.

www.csharp.com/article/c-sharp-14-new-features-and-updates

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

After a short break (and some well-spent days in beautiful Barcelona), I’m back with a packed edition full of GitHub updates, cloud insights, and .NET advancements. Whether you’re diving into Copilot Extensions, exploring quantum computing breakthroughs, or navigating the growing debate on cloud sovereignty, this week has plenty to offer.

Here’s what’s in store:

• 🛠️ Hidden GitHub Actions gems + smarter billing automation

• 🤖 Copilot Extensions now GA + choosing the right AI model

• ⚛️ Microsoft’s Majorana quantum chip—what’s next for computing?

• ☁️ The European push for cloud independence + new AWS alternative

• 💾 Running Azure SQL databases for free—how to get started

• 🏗️ .NET 10 Preview 1 is here—check out what’s new!

From AI-driven development to future-proofing your cloud strategy, this edition covers a lot—so let’s dive in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated.

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GitHub Digest

Some interesting tips you can apply in your GitHub Actions workflow. Like how to send notifications to Slack, validate your workflows, check your licenses or cache dependencies.

10 Hidden Gems in GitHub Actions for Automating Your Workflow

GitHub Actions has changed the game for automation. CI/CD, testing, and deployments? Sure, those are...

dev.to/balrajola/10-hidden-gems-in-github-actions-for-automating-your-workflow-4gam

My colleague Jesse Houwing is the king of GitHub administration and is doing wonders with automation. He takes care of our enterprise setup and yes, that includes the billing side. Read how he automated the cost center setup.

GitHub's new Billing - Assigning Cost Centers in Bulk

I've recently set up the internal cost centers to split our GitHub enterprise bill according to cost centers defined in GitHub. Cost Centers are part of GitHub's new Billing experience which is currently rolling out to GitHub Enterprise customers and which is also coming to GitHub for Teams.

jessehouwing.net/githubs-new-billing-assigning-cost-centers-in-bulk

Extensions add context-aware functionality to your chats. It has been available for some while in private beta, public beta and now it is generally available. So browse the marketplace, or build your own.

Announcing the General Availability of GitHub Copilot Extensions · GitHub Changelog

Announcing the General Availability of GitHub Copilot Extensions

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-19-announcing-the-general-availability-of-github-copilot-extensions

Did you know you can select the model to use in Copliot? There is OpenAI, Gemini, Claude etc, but which one should you use?

Read more to find out how to evaluate an AI model.

How we evaluate AI models and LLMs for GitHub Copilot

We share some of the GitHub Copilot team's experience evaluating AI models, with a focus on our offline evaluations—the tests we run before making any change to our production environment.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/generative-ai/how-we-evaluate-models-for-github-copilot/?utm_source=pocket_shared

The insights page got some love. Although small UI changes, but good to see a time slicer.

Repositories – Updated insight views (General Availability) · GitHub Changelog

Repositories - Updated insight views (General Availability)

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-25-repositories-updated-insight-views-general-availability

I do not see it yet on my account, but GitHub is making the enhanced billing features available for all account types, including personal ones. It gives you a more detailed overview.

Enhanced billing platform is now available for personal accounts · GitHub Changelog

Enhanced billing platform is now available for personal accounts

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-25-enhanced-billing-platform-is-now-available-for-personal-accounts

Coding Corner

An enormous leap in computer power: a Majorana chip. A quantum chip that operates on a completely different level. Microsoft has heavily invested in this new chip and see it as the future of computing.

Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip carves new path for quantum computing - Source

Majorana 1, the first quantum chip powered by a new Topological Core architecture

news.microsoft.com/source/features/ai/microsofts-majorana-1-chip-carves-new-path-for-quantum-computing

Between me writing this newsletter and you reading the contents, the world might have changed again. One thing that is for sure different is the way the USA looks at certain laws and legislation. And with the heavy use of US Cloud platforms like Azure in countries outside the USA, this can become an interesting problem.

It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds - Bert Hubert's writings

The very short version: it is madness to continue transferring the running of European societies and governments to American clouds. Not only is it a terrible idea given the kind of things the “King of America” keeps saying, the legal sophistry used to justify such transfers, like the nonsense letter the Dutch cabinet sent last week, has now been invalidated by Trump himself. And why are we doing this? Convenience.

berthub.eu/articles/posts/you-can-no-longer-base-your-government-and-society-on-us-clouds

In Europe, we need to build up our own services, but that is easier said than done. But who had thought that Lidl is taking steps in that direction? StackIt is one of the European cloud data center alternatives. Currently only available for companies in a set of countries, it does offer compute, storage, network and PaaS services (like messaging, logging, AI).

European alternative to AWS, Azure and Google was born inside Lidl

Lidl founder Dieter Schwarz has "accidentally" become a real alternative to the big U.S. hyperscalers. As a German cloud player, Schwarz Digits is an

www.techzine.eu/news/infrastructure/123810/european-alternative-to-aws-azure-and-google-was-born-inside-lidl/?utm_source=pocket_shared

Of course, more services operate from within Europe and this GitHub repo contains a categorized list of them.

GitHub - uscneps/Awesome-European-Tech

Up-to-date, community-driven list of Awesome European Tech projects! all focusing on privacy, sustainability, and innovation. The goal is to support European startups and projects (Compliance to GD...

github.com/uscneps/Awesome-European-Tech

And related, why do you actually need open standards?

Don’t forget that software licenses can also be part of import tariffs. Can you move away from certain vendors or SaaS applications? When you use an open standard, you have more choices and freedom.

Open Standards in a Trade War: Why You'll Need an Escape Hatch When Politics Hits Your Stack

Open Standards have never been more important. In a world with impending trade wars globally, it's likely that software will be taxed and restricted. Going forward it is going to be critical to be able to rip and replace software if the winds of geopolitics shift in the wrong direction.

blog.devcycle.com/open-standards-in-a-trade-war

Building a rest-ful API is not an easy task, but there is a lot of guidance and standards available. For webhooks, not so much. There are some options, but how to do retries, security, timeouts, and payloads is not that obvious.

With Event Destinations, you get a new kind of pattern where producers can send payloads to systems that best fit the developers. For example, directly to AWS Eventbridge or RabbitMQ.

Stripe, Twillio, and Shopify are the first to use those and are basically sending data directly to brokers.

See the article below for an overview, or go directly to the site.

Event Destinations: A Faster Alternative to Webhooks

Event Destinations is a set of guidelines outlining a new pattern for triggering events. Here's how it helps developers.

thenewstack.io/event-destinations-a-faster-alternative-to-webhooks

Porting Doom to run on pregnancy sticks, calculators, CPU visualizations etc. is some sort of a game to get Doom running on the most exotic hardware. And here we see another impressive project where Doom runs in Typescript. The guy took around a year to develop this solution and documented his work.

With such knowledge and energy, you do wonder if there was not a better use of his time…

Doom in Typescript Types took 3.5 trillion lines and a full year of work

0.0000009645 fps

www.tomshardware.com/video-games/porting-doom-to-typescript-types-took-3-5-trillion-lines-90gb-of-ram-and-a-full-year-of-work

Azure Updates & Insights

Did you know that Azure SQL databases are now free to use? I wrote down what you need to know to get free access to 10 SQL databases.

Azure FinOps Essentials

Running Azure SQL Databases for Free: What You Need to Know

azure-finops-essentials.mindbyte.nl/p/azure-sql-database-free-tier

.NET Nook

The next version of .NET is now available in the first preview. So start playing with the features and find out what is new.

.NET 10 Preview 1 is now available! - .NET Blog

Find out about the new features in .NET 10 Preview 1 across the .NET runtime, SDK, libraries, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, C#, .NET MAUI, and more!

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/dotnet-10-preview-1

The merge hell when you needed to find out what has been changed in solution files. It is a mess with all those configurations and guids. Luckily, this is improved with the new SLNX file format. A much easier to read (and merge) file format for your project files.

So convert and switch over!

@devlead - Mattias Karlsson's Blog - SLNX Finally here📄

The new .NET solution format has evolved from being messy and bloated to being focused and clean

www.devlead.se/posts/2025/2025-02-24-slnx-finally-here

I think it was a year ago when Aspire was introduced and finally released with a stable version at MS Build. Now on version 9.1 we still see improvements.

.NET Aspire 9.1 is here with six great new dashboard features, and more! - .NET Blog

.NET Aspire 9.1 is here! From enhanced dashboard capabilities like Resource Relationships and Localization Overrides to improved Docker integration and flexible console logs, this release is packed with tools to streamline your development process.

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/dotnet-aspire-9-1

Building distributed systems? Then you should be aware of the outbox pattern. Oskar describes how you can apply this pattern with Postgresql without doing any explicit polling. The Logical Replication feature allows you to get a stream of events in an efficient way.

Push-based Outbox Pattern with Postgres Logical Replication - Event-Driven.io

Event-Driven by Oskar Dudycz

event-driven.io/en/push_based_outbox_pattern_with_postgres_logical_replication/

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

This week’s edition is packed with updates on GitHub Copilot, secure authentication, and Azure networking costs. From expanding Copilot to any editor to new testing strategies with Test Containers, there’s a lot to explore.

Before we dive in, a quick heads-up: I’ll be skipping next week’s edition due to a holiday, but I’ll be back in two weeks!

Here’s what’s in store this week:

• 🤖 GitHub Copilot expands with Workspace updates and a Language Server SDK

• 🛠️ Improve your integration testing with Test Containers

• 🔐 Strengthen authentication in Azure with best practices and API security

• 📡 A deep dive into Azure data transfer pricing and cost optimization

• ⚡ .NET 9 networking improvements and Aspire’s AWS integration

Plenty of insights to keep you busy—let’s dive in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated.

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GitHub Digest

Static code analysis using CodeQL is the easiest way to get your code scanned and analysed directly from within GitHub. It can help you find security vulnerabilities. There has been some recent releases with some interesting changes:

CodeQL performance and coverage improvements in recent releases · GitHub Changelog

CodeQL performance and coverage improvements in recent releases

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-12-codeql-performance-and-coverage-improvements-in-recent-releases

This is such a cool feature; GitHub Copilot Workspace. From describing your task, to generating code, tests, workflows etc, Workspace can do it all. In the below blog, you can find what kind of new features are introduced.

Copilot Workspace: Follow ups and file search improvements · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Workspace: Follow ups and file search improvements

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-14-copilot-workspace-follow-ups-and-file-search-improvements

You can already use Copilot in many IDEs and editors, but if that is not enough? With the language server SDK, you can integrate Copilot into any editor.

Copilot Language Server SDK is now available · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Language Server SDK is now available

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-10-copilot-language-server-sdk-is-now-available

Coding Corner

There is almost no excuse anymore for not building integration tests nowadays. You can use test containers to build up local databases, queues etc. Allowing you to test your application with all the dependencies needed. Read more to see how you can use docker to run a SQL server container for testing purposes.

Simplify Your Integration Testing with Test Containers

Learn how to implement Test Containers in .NET for robust integration testing. Discover best practices, practical examples, and advanced implementation techniques using Docker.

goatreview.com/test-containers-dotnet-simplify-integration-testing

Using DefaultAzureCredential in your code in production? Then you might need to tweak this a bit to be more secure. This and more tips can be found at the below link.

Authentication best practices with the Azure Identity library for .NET - .NET

This article describes authentication best practices to follow when using the Azure Identity library for .NET.

learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/azure/sdk/authentication/best-practices?tabs=aspdotnet

Azure Updates & Insights

Want to secure your API using API Management? API keys alone might not be sufficient enough, so what about leveraging Entra to add an additional layer.

Securing API to API calls in Azure with Entra and API Management - Rios Engineer

Contents Introduction Entra Setup API Management Gateway Policy Policy In Action Code Snippet Code run – NO MORE SECRETS! Testing in an Azure App Services Token Conclusion Introduction I’ve been diving deep into API Management policies and exploring security around API access recently. It became clear that subscription keys are not secure—they can be easily ...

An extensive list of data transfer pricing between different Azure services and regions. I wrote about network cost in one of my Azure FinOps Essentials editions as well.

A Guide to Azure Data Transfer Pricing

Understanding Azure networking charges is essential for businesses aiming to manage their budgets effectively. Given the complexity of Azure networking pricing, which involves various influencing factors, the goal here is to bring a clearer unrios.engineer/securing-api-to-api-calls-in-azure-with-entra-and-api-managementderstanding of the associated data transfer costs by breaking down the pricing models into the following use cases:

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/AzureNetworkingBlog/a-guide-to-azure-data-transfer-pricing/4374538

.NET Nook

The latest .net 9 version contains a lot of improvements, also on the network side. Performance improvements, QUIC, connection pooling etc. See the full list:

.NET 9 Networking Improvements - .NET Blog

Introducing new networking features in .NET 9 including HTTP space, HttpClientFactory, security and more!

devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/dotnet-9-networking-improvements

Of course, Aspire works closely with Azure, but now also with AWS. It can provision resource for development time and generate cloud formation files. Read more to see how to use a local dynamodb setup.

Integrating AWS with .NET Aspire | Amazon Web Services

.NET Aspire is a new way of building cloud-ready applications. In particular, it provides an orchestration for local environments in which to run, connect, and debug the components of distributed applications. Those components can be .NET projects, databases, containers, or executables. .NET Aspire is designed to have integrations with common components used in distributed applications. […]

aws.amazon.com/blogs/developer/integrating-aws-with-net-aspire

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

This week, we’re diving into exciting new GitHub Copilot features, major security concerns, and some big shifts in Azure and .NET development. From AI-powered coding agents to one of the largest US government data breaches, there’s plenty to explore.

Here’s what’s in store:

• 🤖 New Copilot features: Vision, Agent Mode, and improved commit messages

• 🔐 Major US government data breach—what it means for security

• 🏗️ How to promote your open-source project and build a community

• 📊 Azure Data Studio is retiring—time to switch to VS Code

• 🛠️ RabbitMQ, MassTransit, and new LINQ methods in .NET

With AI shaping development workflows and security risks increasing, staying informed has never been more important. Let’s dive in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

A whole bunch of new Copilot features was released in January. Take Vision, where you can upload a picture and let Copilot analyze it. Or Agent mode, where Copilot can iterate over its own results.

Vision, agent mode, next edit suggestions, and more for GitHub Copilot in VS Code January release (v0.24) · GitHub Changelog

Next edit suggestions, agent mode, and prompts files for GitHub Copilot in VS Code January release (v0.24)

github.blog/changelog/2025-02-06-next-edit-suggestions-agent-mode-and-prompts-files-for-github-copilot-in-vs-code-january-release-v0-24/?utm_source=pocket_shared

Thomas Dohmke provides some more details, describing how agents will start appearing to help you with all kinds of coding tasks.

GitHub Copilot: The agent awakens

Introducing agent mode for GitHub Copilot in VS Code, announcing the general availability of Copilot Edits, and providing a first look at our SWE agent.

github.blog/news-insights/product-news/github-copilot-the-agent-awakens

Working on an open source project and feel like where is everybody? I have been there; thought I created the solution everybody wanted and would help me out with.

Of course, it does not work like that; you will need to put some effort in to make your project survive in the open source. GitHub lists a number of tips to promote your open source project.

5 tips for promoting your open source project

Three open source experts offer their advice on sharing open source projects with the world.

github.blog/open-source/maintainers/5-tips-for-promoting-your-open-source-project

A cool feature I use GitHub Copilot for when I have a completely new repository; analyze and give an overview of the code. But you can step up your game and ask it for a graphical representation by letting it generate mermaid diagrams.

GitHub Copilot - Generate mermaid diagrams to better understand an existing codebase

Today I was reviewing an existing codebase and I had a hard time to get a good understanding about what was going on. I couldn't create a go...

bartwullems.blogspot.com/2025/01/github-copilot-generate-mermaid.html

A useful feature; let Copilot draft the commit message. I do not always like what it puts there, but it appears you can instruct it to generate other types of messages.

Gain control over commit messages generated by GitHub Copilot

Use the github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useInstructionFiles setting in Visual Studio Code to automatically add instructions to the commit messages generated by GitHub Copilot.

timdeschryver.dev/blog/gain-control-over-commit-messages-generated-by-github-copilot

Coding Corner

Already been called one of the biggest breaches of US government data, and we still have to see what kind of effects this will have. Not only in the USA, but also abroad, as there is no guarantee where data is ending up.

The biggest breach of US government data is under way | TechCrunch

Elon Musk's DOGE has taken control and accessed large swathes of Americans' private information held by the U.S. federal government.

techcrunch.com/2025/02/07/doge-biggest-breach-of-united-states-government-data-under-way

Due to the recent changes in the USA, we see a rise in alternatives, like for cloud hosting, messaging, VPN, DNS, etc. The below site has them listed in multiple categories.

Homepage | European Alternatives

We help you find European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products.

european-alternatives.eu

Might be a bit oversimplified, but good to check your API implementation against it; a list of common mistakes when building HTTP APIs.

The Top 10 Mistakes Developers Make When Writing APIs (And How to Fix Them)

APIs are the glue that holds modern software together. They’re the bridges that connect systems,...

dev.to/balrajola/the-top-10-mistakes-developers-make-when-writing-apis-and-how-to-fix-them-ng3

Azure Updates & Insights

I recently installed Azure Data Studio and found it very extensive and useful, so I was surprised to see that it was actually retired in favor of Visual Studio Code. Although I see the benefit, I also liked that it was just a dedicated tool for accessing SQL.

Azure Data Studio Retirement - Azure SQL Devs’ Corner

Azure Data Studio retirement begins February 6, 2025. Switch to Visual Studio Code for modern SQL tools. Learn more at aka.ms/ads-retirement.

devblogs.microsoft.com/azure-sql/azure-data-studio-retirement

I think that building microservices with Azure Container Apps and Dapr is a great fit, so good to see this tutorial.

Building a Microservices Application with Azure Container Apps and Dapr

This tutorial provides an overview of the main technologies to let you create a microservice application using Azure Container Apps and Dapr.

www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/21974/building-a-microservice-application-with-azure-container-apps-and-dapr/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=building-a-microservice-application-with-azure-container-apps-and-dapr

.NET Nook

Long time ago I used RabbitMQ; what a great messaging system that it is. And still going strong as this tutorial shows where it combines it with MassTransit.

RabbitMQ and MassTransit in .NET Core

Implement message queuing with MassTransit and RabbitMQ in .NET Core. Practical examples of SSL setup, configuration, filters, and circuit breaker pattern.

hamedsalameh.com/rabbitmq-and-masstransit-in-net-core-practical-guide

Did you know about the Chunk, the Zip, or the Index method extensions? These and more have been introduced in the recent .NET versions.

The New LINQ Methods from .NET 6 to .NET 9

In this blog post, we'll explore some of the latest enhancements to LINQ introduced between .NET 6...

dev.to/antonmartyniuk/the-new-linq-methods-from-net-6-to-net-9-3l48

Closing Thoughts

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Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

This week’s edition is packed with updates on GitHub, AI security, and cloud best practices. From Copilot improvements and security concerns to Azure disaster recovery and .NET deep dives, there’s plenty to explore.

Here’s what’s in store:

• 🎓 Join the GitHub Copilot Hackathon (NL) and explore the latest updates

• 🔄 Ubuntu 20 GitHub Actions runners are being retired—time to upgrade

• 🤖 Copilot jailbreaks and OpenAI’s o1 model now free for all users

• 🔍 Git credential helper vulnerabilities—check if you’re patched

• ☁️ What happens when an Azure region goes down?

• 💡 Exploring why companies choose C# and how to build a garbage collector

With AI advancements, security threats, and cloud strategies evolving rapidly, this edition will keep you informed. Let’s dive in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

Want to learn about Copilot and have some room in your agenda tomorrow (and live in the Netherlands)? Then join the Copilot Hackathon at Xebia. Read about the event and sign up using the link below.

Join the GitHub Copilot Hackathon on February 5th!

Join us on February 5th for an in-person GitHub Copilot Hackathon to explore AI in development with a hands-on, interactive experience. Register now!

events.xebia.com/microsoft-services/copilot-hackathon-feb-2025

The Ubuntu 20 runner will be retired on April 1st and you will need to upgrade to 22 or 24 soon. As part of the retirement process, GitHub will fail the usage of the version 20 runner on a certain set of days, so you are aware of any potential issues.

GitHub Actions: Ubuntu 20 runner image brownout dates and other breaking changes · GitHub Changelog

GitHub Actions: Ubuntu 20 runner image brownout dates and other breaking changes

github.blog/changelog/2025-01-15-github-actions-ubuntu-20-runner-image-brownout-dates-and-other-breaking-changes

The Workspaces feature of GitHub received some interesting new features. Like auto-validation, where it checks if it actually can build the proposed changes. See what is next for the Workspaces:

Copilot Workspace: Auto-validation, go to definition, and more · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Workspace: Auto-validation, go to definition, and more

github.blog/changelog/2025-01-31-copilot-workspace-auto-validation-go-to-definition-and-more

Using Copilot in JetBrains IDEs like Rider? Then you might run into the issue with keybindings, where the shortcuts are just different compared to the other tools. My colleague wrote a nice blog post about how to configure this.

Troubleshooting GitHub Copilot keyboard shortcuts in Jetbrains IDEs

Over the past months I've delivered 100s of GitHub Copilot workshops. Ranging from 2 hour introduction talks, where I quickly walk through the main features of the product, up to day-long workshops with interactive hands-on. For most people it's pretty easy to get started. In Visual Studio Code you install

jessehouwing.net/troubleshooting-github-copilot-keyboard-shortcuts-in-jetbrains-ides

Yes, you can jailbreak LLMs, including Copilot. Read the article to see what you can do to get Copilot the answer questions it actually denies to answer.

New Jailbreaks Allow Users to Manipulate GitHub Copilot

Whether by intercepting its traffic or just giving it a little nudge, GitHub's AI assistant can be made to do malicious things it isn't supposed to.

www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/new-jailbreaks-manipulate-github-copilot

GitHub Copilot already has a free tier, but now it also has access to the OpenAI o1 reasoning model. Giving you more power and options by using this advanced AI model.

Microsoft makes OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model free for all Copilot users

Microsoft calls it Think Deeper

www.theverge.com/news/603149/microsoft-openai-o1-model-copilot-think-deeper-free

Coding Corner

I’m no lawyer, but according to this article, the data protection between US and EU can change with the new legislation in the White House.

Will the agreement on data transfers to the USA be overturned?

After Donald Trump dismissed members of the data protection supervisory authority PCLOB, noyb is once again sawing away at the EU-US data protection agreement.

www.heise.de/en/background/Will-the-agreement-on-data-transfers-to-the-USA-be-overturned-10260362.html

Ai, another set of attacks to get credentials using the git credential helper. Find out what they do and if you have the patched versions already.

Clone2Leak attacks exploit Git flaws to steal credentials

A set of three distinct but related attacks, dubbed 'Clone2Leak,' can leak credentials by exploiting how Git and its credential helpers handle authentication requests.

www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/clone2leak-attacks-exploit-git-flaws-to-steal-credentials

AI is everywhere, and so are the risks. Browse through this repository and see how they impact you.

The AI Risk Repository

A comprehensive living database of over 1000 AI risks categorized by their cause and risk domain

airisk.mit.edu

Azure Updates & Insights

It can happen—a data center is hit by a disaster. Luckily, you have a disaster recovery plan, or don’t you?

What Happens When An Azure Region Is Destroyed? | Aidan Finn, IT Pro

This is a topic that has been "top of mind" (I sound like a management consulting muppet) recently: how can I recover from an Azure region being destroyed? Why Am I Thinking About This? Data centres host critical services. If one of these data centres disappears then everything that was hosted in them is gone.

aidanfinn.com/?p=23946

Right click, deploy or is there a better way to get releases to production? It looks like Microsoft uses a safe way to deploy their applications to Azure.

How Microsoft Releases Changes to Azure - Safe Deployment | luke.geek.nz

Learn how Microsoft implements changes daily across Azure using safe deployment practices, quality gates, and automated processes.

luke.geek.nz/azure/azure-platform-release-process

This is a great example of how to build Time-based one-time passwords using Azure Functions.

Building a TOTP Authenticator App on Azure Functions and Azure Key Vault

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/appsonazureblog/building-a-totp-authenticator-app-on-azure-functions-and-azure-key-vault/4361821

.NET Nook

Considering C# for your next project? Tracebit did as well and outlined why they did choice this over other frameworks.

Why Tracebit is written in C# | Tracebit

A retro on some of the reasons we chose to build Tracebit in C#.

tracebit.com/blog/why-tracebit-is-written-in-c-sharp

Not sure I ever want to do this; building a Garbage Collector. That is why I like a managed runtime, so I don’t have to do this. But if you are interested in the techniques behind this, then this series is a good start.

Writing a .NET Garbage Collector in C#  -  Part 1

First part of a series of articles about writing a .NET Garbage Collector in C# using NativeAOT. This part sets the expectations and setups the project, dealing with the first difficulties.

minidump.net/2025-28-01-writing-a-net-gc-in-c-part-1

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

This week’s edition dives into the world of open source, coding tools, and Azure insights. From getting started with contributing to open source, to managing sensitive data in your Git history, and exploring the latest in .NET frameworks and testing tools, there’s a lot to discover.

Here’s what’s in store:

• 🛠️ How to get started with open source and make meaningful contributions

• 📱 New GitHub Mobile features: Fork, PRs, and branch comparisons on the go

• 🔒 How to clean secrets from your Git history with ease

• 🤖 Meet Junie: JetBrains’ coding agent to simplify your workflow

• ⚡ Explore SpecFlow for behavior-driven development and testing

• 💰 Azure App Configuration: Features, pricing, and cost considerations

Whether you’re refining your workflow, securing your projects, or optimizing your cloud costs, this edition has something for you. Let’s dive in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

Working on open source software can be really awarding. I have some projects myself, such as the Azure Cost CLI, but also contributed to other projects. It is an excellent way to learn and share.

Wondering how to get started with open source? Have a look at the guide below. Dont forget; even helping out by writing or correcting some docs, responding to an issue or saying thanks to the maintainer is already so much appriciated.

New to open source? Here’s everything you need to get started

Explore our simple guide to finding projects, understanding guidelines, and making an impact.

github.blog/open-source/new-to-open-source-heres-everything-you-need-to-get-started

Some love for GitHub Mobile as it gets support for forking a repository, but also the ability to create a Pull Request. Useful to compare a branch on the go, providing feedback and merge them. No editing, for that you need to use the web.

What’s New in Mobile, January Update · GitHub Changelog

What's New in Mobile, January Update

github.blog/changelog/2025-01-24-whats-new-in-mobile-january-update

Yes, the best way is to make sure you never include a secret in your commits. And with tools like secret scanning you can limit those mistakes from reaching GitHub. But accidents can happen and the first thing to do is to rotate the leaked secret.

Even so, it can make sense to remove this sensitive data as it can be used to extract logic or be analysed. The below article describes how to remove these tokens from the history like it never happened.

Coding Corner

If you are familair with GitHub Copilot Workspaces (you can join the public beta now when you have a paid license for Copilot), then Junie would be interesting to you as well.

More than just doing code completions using a LLM, it is targetted to be your little helper; picking up tasks and combining different activities together.

Join the waitlist, but be aware that it is not yet available for Rider. No doubt this will come at some point.

Meet Junie, Your Coding Agent by JetBrains | The JetBrains Junie Blog

Meet Junie, Your Coding Agent by JetBrains. You can fully delegate routine tasks to Junie or pair with it on more complex ones. Leveraging the power of JetBrains IDEs and reliable LLMs, Junie already solves tasks that would usually require hours of work.

blog.jetbrains.com/junie/2025/01/meet-junie-your-coding-agent-by-jetbrains

Couple of nice improvements for Wolverine; a .NET Mediator and Message Bus implementation. I m always impressed with the feature set and direction the project goes into. Yes, it is an opiniated framework, but it tries to tackle a couple of patterns in a modern and optimized manner.

Wolverine 3.6: Modular Monolith and Vertical Slice Architecture Goodies

Wolverine 3.6 just went out tonight as a big release with bug fixes and quite a few significant features to improve Wolverine’s usability for modular monolith architectures and to further imp…

jeremydmiller.com/2025/01/12/wolverine-3-6-modular-monolith-and-vertical-slice-architecture-goodies

Testing your software is a hard job and even if you write a large amount of unit tests, you are never fully sure if you are complete enough. How do you know that your software does what the business actually wants? What if you can create a description in human friendly form that translates to a test suite?

Enter SpecFlow: a framework for Behavior Driven Development that provides a mechanism to turn specifications into executable code that can be used to create automated tests.

Introduction To BDD using SpecFlow - Claudio Bernasconi

claudiobernasconi.ch/blog/introduction-to-bdd-using-specflow

Some tumult in open source land; a commonly used library for testing changed its licensing structure. Of course; the author has the right to do so, but he also turned it into a license model where each developer needs to pay 130 dollar per year.

Up to you if that is worth the price, but upgrading to version 8 means you will need to adhere to the new license. So either stick with the previous version or switch to another framework. In the meantime you can do a search and replace to FreeAssertions, which has just a simple dependency on anything before version 8.

The Transition of .NET FluentAssertions to Paid Software

You have to paid 130$ per developer to be able to use FluentAssertions in latest version

finalexception.com/the-transition-of-net-fluentassertions-to-paid-software

Azure Updates & Insights

Not likely that you are involved with these kinds of contracts directly, but there is some movement by Microsoft to get rid of the Enterprise Agreements contracts in favor of the new MCA. Read more to get some clarity.

Moving to a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) from an Enterprise Agreement (EA)

Learn about renewing your direct Enterprise Agreement as a Microsoft Customer Agreement. Microsoft has introduced a new contractual model for Azure enterprise customers, called the Microsoft Customer Agreement.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/finopsblog/moving-to-a-microsoft-customer-agreement-mca-from-an-enterprise-agreement-ea/4369208?utm_source=pocket_shared

By yours truly; I wrote a piece about Azure App Configuration. Mostly about the cost aspect of it, but it also shows the feature set and capabilities.

Azure FinOps Essentials

Azure App Configuration: Features, Pricing, and Cost Considerations

azure-finops-essentials.mindbyte.nl/p/azure-app-configuration-cost-breakdown

Closing Thoughts

Thank you for reading this week’s edition!

Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts! 🚀

This week’s edition brings exciting updates on GitHub tools, AI trends, and some fun reads on tech quirks. From improving your Copilot Workspace experience to securing your CI/CD pipelines with ARM-based runners, there’s a lot to explore.

Here’s what’s in store:

• 🛠️ How GitHub built the Skyline CLI extension using GitHub itself

• 🚀 Linux ARM64 hosted runners now free for public repositories

• 📂 New Copilot Workspace updates for better navigation and file management

• 🔍 Using Copilot to document and understand legacy codebases

• 🔧 Building resilient systems and exploring Rust for C# developers

From improving your workflow to exploring AI advancements and discovering unique tech stories, there’s plenty to dive into this week. Let’s jump right in!

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

Sending out this newsletter is something I do with love, but it does cost money as well. It would really help me if you visit my sponsor:

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• Automated Lead Enrichment With 10+ Data Sources

• Full Email Deliverability Management

• Multi-Channel Outreach Across Email & LinkedIn

• Human-Level Personalization

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Request a free personalized demo today.

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GitHub Digest

Couple of editions ago, I shared the GitHub Skyline extension. You can install it on the GH cli and use it to generate an overview of your contributions.

Of course, this extension is not only made by GitHub, but also using GitHub. The below article tells how they used Codespaces as a dev environment, Copilot chat to rubber duck, Copilot Edit to make changes to multiple files and Actions to build, test and release the extension. Security and secret management are also part of the mix.

How we built the GitHub Skyline CLI extension using GitHub

GitHub uses GitHub to build GitHub, and our CLI extensions are no exception. Read on to find out how we built the GitHub Skyline CLI extension using GitHub!

github.blog/developer-skills/application-development/how-we-built-the-github-skyline-cli-extension-using-github

ARM CPUs are becoming more and more interesting to use as they are efficient and fast. The Linux arm64 hosted runners can now be used for free when you have a public repository. Just use ubuntu-24.04-arm as the runner name.

Linux arm64 hosted runners now available for free in public repositories (Public Preview) · GitHub Changelog

Linux arm64 hosted runners now available for free in public repositories (Public Preview)

github.blog/changelog/2025-01-16-linux-arm64-hosted-runners-now-available-for-free-in-public-repositories-public-preview

Remember that Copilot Workspaces is now available for all paying Copilot users? Already some nice improvements are released to make working with this feature even better.

Copilot Workspace Updates: improved navigation and file management · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Workspace Changelog (January 17, 2025)

github.blog/changelog/2025-01-17-copilot-workspace-changelog-january-17-2025

We all know this problem; you need to work on some old legacy project and there is no documentation to be found. Would it not be nice to how somebody to tell you what the code is suppose to do?

Maybe that somebody is actually Copilot and the tips and tricks shared in the next article can help you better understand legacy codebases or languages.

Documenting and explaining legacy code with GitHub Copilot: Tips and examples

Learn how to document and explain legacy code with GitHub Copilot with real-world examples.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/github-copilot/documenting-and-explaining-legacy-code-with-github-copilot-tips-and-examples

Coding Corner

As you might have guessed, AI is not going away for sure. Certainly not at Microsoft, where a reorg is happening at the AI division to get even more focus on AI development.

Amid a flurry of hype, Microsoft reorganizes entire dev team around AI

Shift ensures the majority of Microsoft’s developer resources will focus on AI.

arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/amid-a-flurry-of-hype-microsoft-reorganizes-entire-dev-team-around-ai

Why would you want to run Doom, a classic shooter, on a pregnancy test? Somehow people want to run this game on all kinds of systems, for as long as this has been possible. Discover what makes this game unique so it needs to run on anything that has some sort of interface.

31 Years Later, One Of The Biggest Gaming Memes Matters More Than Ever

Hackers will not rest until a classic shooter is playable on absolutely everything, including satellites and pregnancy tests.

www.inverse.com/gaming/can-it-run-doom-pregnancy-tests-atms-satellites

Building resilient systems is hard as there are so many things that can fail. Derek shares some of the patterns you can use to protect your system against outages of third party systems.

Design Patterns for Building Resilient Systems

Lessons learned from a massive outage on why specific design patterns allow you to build resilient systems that can withstand a major outage.

codeopinion.com/design-patterns-for-building-resilient-systems

.NET Nook

I heard some good things about Rust, as it was much safer and more performant compared to C#, but never really looked into it. Maybe this series of articles by Chris Woodruff can help comparing C# to Rust and explain the attention it gets.

Why Every C# Developer Should Explore Rust – Chris Woody Woodruff

Hey there, C# developers! If you’re reading this, you’re probably curious about Rust, that trendy programming language everyone’s been talking about. Maybe you’ve heard whispers of “memory safety” or “no garbage collector” and wondered, “What’s the big deal? Can’t I stick with my trusty .NET stack?” Well, let’s dive in and explore why you, a C# maestro, might want to take a detour into Rust-land.

woodruff.dev/why-every-c-developer-should-explore-rust/?amp=1

Building AI solutions becomes easier with the Microsoft.Extensions.AI framework. The article by Milan Jovanovic has some samples of text summarization and tag detection using a local Ollama LLM container. And yes, it is just a couple of lines to get this AI solution working.

Working with LLMs in .NET using Microsoft.Extensions.AI

Microsoft.Extensions.AI provides a unified interface for integrating LLMs into .NET applications, allowing developers to switch between providers like Ollama, Azure, or OpenAI without changing application code. Through practical examples of chat completion, article summarization, and smart categorization, this article demonstrates how to leverage the library's features while running LLMs locally using Ollama.

www.milanjovanovic.tech/blog/working-with-llms-in-dotnet-using-microsoft-extensions-ai

Closing Thoughts

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Your feedback is invaluable, so if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out by simply replying to this mail.

If you enjoyed this update and want to continue receiving more, make sure to subscribe here.

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