Microsoft Added AI to Visual Studio Debugging Because Developers Got Tired of GuessingSpent half a day hunting a NullReferenceException that turned out to be a missing fucking space in a connection string.
The error message said 'Value cannot be null' which was about as helpful as a screen door on a submarine.Microsoft apparently heard these screams of rage and built AI debugging into Visual Studio because fixing their actual debugger would require effort.
Instead of improving their garbage error messages, they're throwing AI at the problem like every other tech company in 2025.## The Problem: .
NET Debugging Makes You Want to Drink
Here's what debugging looked like before this AI nonsense:
1.
Your app crashes with System.ArgumentException: Value cannot be null2.
Stack trace points to 17 different methods that could have caused it 3. You set 12 breakpoints and step through code like a caveman 4. Two hours later you find the null value 5. It's always in the dumbest possible place 6. You question your career choicesI've seen senior developers cry over Entity Framework exceptions. Not kidding
- actual tears. EF throws
InvalidOperationException: The query could not be translatedand provides zero useful information about which part of your LINQ query broke.
Usually it's because you tried to use string.Contains() in a complex query that EF can't translate to SQL, but good fucking luck figuring that out from the error message.
The new Copilot debugging feature tries to save you from this hell by actually reading the stack trace and telling you what's fucked up instead of making you guess.
It integrates with the Visual Studio debugger and exception helpers to provide AI-generated suggestions.## What Microsoft Actually Built
When your code shits the bed with a NullReferenceException at line 47 of your 200-line method (yes, I know it's too long, shut up), Copilot now:
- Points to the exact variable that's null instead of making you guess
- Shows you the call chain that led to the null value
- Suggests actual fixes like
?.operator or guard clauses - Sometimes figures out which dependency injection is misconfiguredTested this on our legacy ASP.
NET disaster last week. Here's what actually happened:Error: `System.
InvalidOperationException: Unable to resolve service for type 'IUserRepository'`Before: Spent 45 minutes staring at DI registration code, checking interfaces, adding debug logging, finally realizing someone renamed an interface and forgot to update Startup.cs.With Copilot: It immediately suggested checking DI registration and pointed to the exact missing line.
Took 30 seconds instead of most of my morning.The difference is Copilot knows your specific codebase. It can see you have `User
Repositoryclass but noservices.AddScoped<IUserRepository, UserRepository>()` registration. This kind of dependency injection debugging used to require manually checking your Startup.cs configuration or [Program.cs in .
NET 6+](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/migration/50-to-60?view=aspnetcore-8.0).**Typical .
NET Exception Dialog**: The standard Visual Studio exception helper shows generic error messages like "Value cannot be null" without indicating which variable is null, requiring manual debugging to trace the actual source.## Where It Goes Completely Off the Rails
Copilot suggested a "fix" for our payment processing bug that would have charged customers twice.
The real issue was some timing bullshit in our order validation, but the AI saw a null reference and decided the solution was null checks everywhere like some kind of defensive programming cargo cult.Following these suggestions without thinking will destroy your production app faster than a junior dev with admin access.Threading Issues Are KryptoniteHad a deadlock in our API where two methods were waiting for each other. Copilot's suggestion? Add more await keywords. That made the deadlock worse and brought down our entire service for 3 hours.Business Logic? Good LuckCustomer complained their subscription renewal charged them for a downgraded plan. The bug was in our pricing calculation logic
- we were using the old plan's price instead of the new one. Copilot suggested adding null checks to the price calculation. Completely useless.Performance Gets WorseCopilot loves suggesting LINQ methods that turn your O(n) query into O(n²) horror. It suggested changing
.FirstOrDefault()to.Where().Any().FirstOrDefault()which made our user lookup 40x slower. Thanks, AI.Entity Framework ConfusionEF 8 tracking behavior changed from previous versions, causingInvalidOperationExceptionwhen trying to update entities.
Copilot kept suggesting EF Core 6 syntax that doesn't work anymore.
Spent 2 hours fighting the suggestions before checking the actual EF 8 documentation and migration guide.## Jet
Brains Rider Kicks Visual Studio's AssRider's AI debugging is actually useful because JetBrains understands how developers actually work.
When Rider suggests a fix, it usually compiles and doesn't break your app.Tried both tools on the same codebase. Rider caught a memory leak in our background service that Visual Studio's AI completely missed. The leak was caused by event handlers not getting unsubscribed
- Rider suggested the exact disposal pattern we needed.Visual Studio's AI suggested adding
GC.Collect()calls everywhere. That's not a fix, that's cargo cult programming.Amazon CodeWhisperer is also getting better, especially for AWS Lambda debugging.
It understands cold start issues and timeout problems that Visual Studio AI doesn't know exist.## The Actual Real-World ResultsTested this on three different projects over the past month:**Legacy E-commerce App (.
NET Framework 4.8):**
- Fixed 12 null reference issues correctly
- Broke the shopping cart with a threading suggestion
- Suggested outdated async patterns from .
NET 4.5 era
- Overall: saved time on simple bugs, cost time on complex ones**New API Project (.
NET 8):**
- Great at DI container issues and configuration problems
- Completely confused by minimal API syntax
- Suggested Entity Framework code that doesn't work with our PostgreSQL setup
- Still suggests
Startup.cspatterns when we're using Program.csMicroservice with Docker: - Useless for Docker-specific issues (port binding, container networking)
- Good at database connection string problems
- Suggested hardcoded paths that break in containers
- Doesn't understand Linux file permissions inside containers## It Costs $250/Month Per Developer (Microsoft Knows What They're Doing)Visual Studio Enterprise + Git
Hub Copilot Business = $250/month per developer.
Professional + Copilot = $45/month. For a team of 10 developers, that's $2500-4500/month to get AI suggestions that are wrong half the time.Our team calculated the ROI. If this saves each developer 2 hours per month on debugging, we break even at senior developer salaries. Problem is, it only saves time on trivial bugs that good developers shouldn't be making in the first place.Junior developers benefit more, but they're also more likely to trust bad suggestions and break shit. Saw a junior dev implement Copilot's suggestion to catch all exceptions with catch (Exception ex) { /* ignore */ }. That hid 47 different bugs until our production monitoring caught them.For our team, we get more value from better logging, proper error handling, and not rushing code reviews. The AI is a band-aid on fundamentally shitty development practices.## Should You Use This?If you're already stuck with Visual Studio and GitHub Copilot, the debugging features are fine for simple problems. Don't expect miracles.Better investment: Spend the money on proper monitoring (Sentry, Datadog, Application Insights) and better development practices.
Real debugging skills still matter. When your distributed system fails at 3 AM and takes down half your services, Copilot won't help you trace the failure through 12 different microservices. You'll need to understand distributed tracing, know how to read logs, and figure out which database connection is timing out.The AI is useful for Stack Overflow-level problems. For anything requiring actual engineering judgment, you're on your own.Actually useful for:
Null reference debugging (works 80% of the time)
DI container misconfigurations (pretty reliable)
Basic async/await problems (better than expected)Still useless for:
Performance issues (makes them worse)
Business logic bugs (can't read your mind)
Complex threading problems (dangerous suggestions)
Architecture problems (suggests tactical fixes for strategic problems)