Visual Studio 18.12 makes Bring Your Own Model generally available

Microsoft announced on November 11, 2026, that Bring Your Own Model (BYOM) is now generally available in Visual Studio 18.12, according to a Visual Studio Blog post. The feature lets Copilot Chat connect to Microsoft Foundry, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama or a custom endpoint instead of being limited to Microsoft-hosted models.

What changes in Visual Studio 18.12

• Bring Your Own Model ships as a general-availability feature in Visual Studio 18.12.
• Supported providers at launch are Microsoft Foundry, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama and Custom Endpoint.
• Custom Endpoint accepts both OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic-compatible APIs, and local models are supported through LM Studio.
• No GitHub sign-in is required to use the feature.
• Developers can create multiple named configurations per provider, each with its own context size, maximum output, tool-calling support and vision support.

What it means for people who build with AI

By opening Copilot Chat to rival model providers, including Anthropic, Microsoft removes a layer of vendor lock-in from Visual Studio's AI chat and agent experience. Developers in regulated, air-gapped or cost-sensitive environments can now pick the model provider that fits their constraints instead of being restricted to Microsoft-hosted options.

Enterprise rollout and availability

• BYOM works in air-gapped environments, as long as the model endpoint is reachable.
• Administrative policy controls are available for enterprise rollout.
• Enhanced proxy support is included for enterprise network environments.

Sources

• Bring Your Own Model is now generally available in Visual Studio (Microsoft Visual Studio Blog, November 11, 2026, official)

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