VS Code 1.133: run AI coding agents without a GitHub account

Two small settings in a routine editor release quietly changed who owns your AI coding setup. VS Code 1.133 shipped August 12 with an experimental flag that opens the Agents window without signing in to GitHub, plus a model picker that lets you switch providers between turns in the same session. Neither headlines the release notes. Both matter more than most feature launches we cover.

What actually happened

Per the VS Code 1.133 release notes, the Agents window — the surface where coding agents run — previously required a GitHub sign-in. There's now an experimental setting to open it without one, aimed at developers who can't reach github.com or who'd rather use an existing Claude API key. The feature currently supports Claude only.

The second change: in Claude sessions, the model picker shows both Anthropic and Copilot options, and you can "switch providers between turns without reconfiguring the agent host." Mid-conversation, one turn goes to your Anthropic key and the next to Copilot, with no teardown in between. Underneath it, Microsoft keeps building on the Agent Host Protocol, with the Copilot agent running through the Copilot SDK for consistent behavior across surfaces.

The release also auto-reloads local HTML files in the integrated browser when they change on disk, so agent edits show up without a manual refresh, and pins prompts with sticky scroll during long chats. Useful. Not the story.

Why it matters for your business

Here's the operator's angle on AI coding agents in VS Code: the account requirement was the lock-in, not the editor. When the agent surface demanded a GitHub identity, your AI development workflow was tied to one vendor's account system, one vendor's billing, and one vendor's availability. Decoupling sign-in from agent access turns that from a dependency into a preference.

The provider switch is the same idea at the token level. Being able to route one turn to your own Anthropic key and the next through Copilot means you can put cheap models on scaffolding and expensive ones on the hard part — and it means a price change or an outage at one provider is a picker click, not a migration. We've watched clients get quietly repriced by a vendor they couldn't leave in a quarter. Optionality inside the tool is the cheapest insurance available.

Two caveats worth stating plainly. The no-sign-in path is experimental and Claude-only right now, so don't build a team policy on it this week. And using your own API key moves you from a flat seat price to metered usage — that's more control and a bill that moves. For most small teams that trade is worth making, but you should decide it deliberately rather than discover it on an invoice.

Sources: Visual Studio Code 1.133 release notes.