Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building applications. It provides APIs for extending the IDE functionality, publishing extensions to the marketplace, and building VS Code extensions.

Microsoft Visual Studio is listed with 4 APIs on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include Developer Tools, Extensions, IDE, Microsoft, and VS Code.

Microsoft Visual Studio’s developer surface includes CLI, pricing, engineering blog, developer portal, documentation, support, changelog, and 21 more developer resources.

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31.0/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 4/100 human only Front door AI 5/6 prominent saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemium

4 APIs 31 Agent Skills

Developer Tools Extensions IDE Microsoft VS Code

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0

Composite quality — 31.0/100 · thin

Contract Quality 0.0 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 8.9 / 17

Access Clarity 6.7 / 17

Operational Transparency 4.1 / 11

Contract Governance 0.0 / 10

Discoverability 6.1 / 9

Regulatory Posture 2.9 / 15

Agent readiness — 4/100 · human only

Machine-Readable Contract 0 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 0 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 5 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics could not be measured. We hold no machine-readable contract for this provider to read, so there is nothing to measure a write surface against. Excluded rather than scored zero: never-measured and measured-empty are different facts. Publishing an OpenAPI is what makes this facet — and several others — scorable at all.

The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

Machine-Readable Contract +18 pts — api_specs includes an OpenAPI document
MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
Agentic Access Contract +10 pts — agentic_access artifact present (x-agentic-access), graded by author
Machine-Readable Auth +10 pts — a served openid-configuration/oauth-authorization-server carrying `issuer` (served), else the securitySchemes class in the provider OpenAPIs — bound (mutualTLS, DPoP, Signature) > negotiable (oauth2 authorizationCode/clientCredentials, openIdConnect) > bearer (http bearer, apiKey)
Idempotency +9 pts — OpenAPI mutating operations declare an idempotency key — a header, a request-body property, or a named de-duplication token whose own description says so (verified); else common[].type matches /idempoten/i (documented)
Stable Error Semantics +8 pts — OpenAPI $refs a shared error schema across 4xx/5xx responses (verified), else common[].type includes ErrorCatalog / ErrorCodes / DeclineCodes

11 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Contract Quality scores 0.0 — up to +25.0 composite points
Access Clarity scores 39.5 — up to +12.1 composite points
Contract Governance scores 0.0 — up to +12.0 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/microsoft-visual-studio/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/microsoft-visual-studio to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
IDE Extension Marketplaces (JetBrains, VS Code, Open VSX, Docker Verified Publishers, PyPI orgs)	undeclared	-	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Visual Studio Extensibility API

The Visual Studio Extensibility API enables developers to create extensions that customize and extend Visual Studio IDE functionality. Extensions can add custom tool windows, co...

Visual Studio Marketplace API

The Visual Studio Marketplace API provides access to the extension marketplace for Visual Studio, VS Code, and Azure DevOps. Developers can search extensions, retrieve metadata,...

VS Code Extension API

The VS Code Extension API enables developers to build extensions for Visual Studio Code. It provides APIs for language support, debugging, source control, terminal integration, ...

Visual Studio Live Share API

Extension-facing API (via the vsls npm module) that allows other VS Code and Visual Studio extensions to start, join, and end Live Share collaborative sessions and expose shared...

Agent Skills 24

Packaged agent skills for driving this provider's APIs from an AI assistant.

add-action

AGENT SKILL

add-adaptive-card

AGENT SKILL

add-generative-answers

AGENT SKILL

add-global-variable

AGENT SKILL

add-knowledge

AGENT SKILL

add-node

AGENT SKILL

add-other-agents

AGENT SKILL

analyze-evals

AGENT SKILL

chat-directline

AGENT SKILL

chat-sdk

AGENT SKILL

chat-with-agent

AGENT SKILL

clone-agent

AGENT SKILL

create-eval-set

AGENT SKILL

create-eval

AGENT SKILL

detect-mode

AGENT SKILL

directline-chat

AGENT SKILL

edit-action

AGENT SKILL

edit-agent

AGENT SKILL

edit-triggers

AGENT SKILL

int-patterns

AGENT SKILL

int-project-context

AGENT SKILL

int-reference

AGENT SKILL

list-kinds

AGENT SKILL

list-topics

AGENT SKILL

Scroll for all 24

Microsoft Visual Studio API pricing

Not yet checked against Microsoft Visual Studio's own pricing page. Compiled by API Evangelist on 2026-05-04; confirm before you rely on a figure. A free plan or tier is listed.

Plan	Price
Free freemium	Free
Professional paid	Free
Enterprise enterprise	—

Plan details, limits and sources →

Rate limits

Free Tier Default: 10 requests per minute
Free Tier Monthly Quota: 1000 requests per month
Professional Tier Default: 100 requests per minute

Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against Microsoft Visual Studio's documentation. All 5 limits →

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Microsoft Visual Studio Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Microsoft Visual Studio Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Microsoft Visual Studio Finops

FINOPS

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Microsoft Visual Studio Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Microsoft Visual Studio Vulnerability Disclosure

security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Resources

Get Started 2

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Portal

Portal

GettingStarted

GettingStarted

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 2

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

LLMsTxt

LLMsTxt

WellKnown

WellKnown

Build 3

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

CLI

CLI

Packages

Packages

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 4

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

SecurityTxt

SecurityTxt

Security

Security

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Operate 3

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Support

Support

ChangeLog

ChangeLog

Commercial 5

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

FinOps

Pricing

TermsOfService

PrivacyPolicy

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Blog

Blog

LinkedIn

Website

Website

Other 5

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Hosts

Vendors

Leadership

Download

Marketplace

Source (apis.yml)

aid: microsoft-visual-studio
name: Microsoft Visual Studio
x-parent: microsoft
description: Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building applications. It provides
  APIs for extending the IDE functionality, publishing extensions to the marketplace, and building VS Code extensions.
type: Index
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: false
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: low
  probe_state: unreadable
  source:
  - plans
  - security
  generated: '2026-11-06'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/microsoft-visual-studio.png
tags:
- Developer Tools
- Extensions
- IDE
- Microsoft
- VS Code
url: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/
created: '2024-01-01'
modified: '2026-11-04'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
common:
- type: CLI
  url: cli/microsoft-visual-studio-cli.yml
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/microsoft-visual-studio-llms.txt
- type: SecurityTxt
  url: well-known/microsoft-visual-studio-www-security.txt
- type: WellKnown
  url: well-known/microsoft-visual-studio-well-known.yml
- type: Hosts
  url: hosts/microsoft-visual-studio-hosts.yml
- type: Vendors
  url: vendors/microsoft-visual-studio-vendors.yml
- type: Packages
  url: packages/microsoft-visual-studio-packages.yml
- type: Security
  url: https://www.microsoft.com/security
- type: Leadership
  url: https://news.microsoft.com/leadership
- type: Plans
  url: plans/microsoft-visual-studio-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/microsoft-visual-studio-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/microsoft-visual-studio-finops.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/microsoft-visual-studio-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: Pricing
  url: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/pricing
- type: Download
  url: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads
- type: Marketplace
  url: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com
- type: Blog
  url: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/feed/
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/microsoft-visual-studio-domain-security.yml
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/microsoft-visual-studio
- type: Portal
  url: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/
- type: Website
  url: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/terms-of-use
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement
- type: Support
  url: https://support.microsoft.com/
- type: ChangeLog
  url: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/getting-started/
apis:
- aid: microsoft-visual-studio:extensibility-api
  name: Visual Studio Extensibility API
  tags:
  - Developer Tools
  - Extensions
  - IDE
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/extensibility/
  properties:
  - url: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/extensibility/
    type: Documentation
  description: The Visual Studio Extensibility API enables developers to create extensions that customize and extend Visual
    Studio IDE functionality. Extensions can add custom tool windows, commands, code analyzers, project templates, debugger
    visualizers, and language services using the VSIX packaging format and MEF composition model.
- aid: microsoft-visual-studio:marketplace-api
  name: Visual Studio Marketplace API
  tags:
  - Distribution
  - Extensions
  - Marketplace
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  baseURL: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/_apis/
  humanURL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/extend/develop/data-storage
  properties:
  - url: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/extend/develop/data-storage
    type: Documentation
  description: The Visual Studio Marketplace API provides access to the extension marketplace for Visual Studio, VS Code,
    and Azure DevOps. Developers can search extensions, retrieve metadata, manage publisher profiles, and publish extensions
    programmatically through REST endpoints.
- aid: microsoft-visual-studio:vscode-extension-api
  name: VS Code Extension API
  tags:
  - Editor
  - Extensions
  - VS Code
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://code.visualstudio.com/api
  properties:
  - url: https://code.visualstudio.com/api
    type: Documentation
  - url: https://code.visualstudio.com/api/get-started/your-first-extension
    type: GettingStarted
  description: The VS Code Extension API enables developers to build extensions for Visual Studio Code. It provides APIs for
    language support, debugging, source control, terminal integration, webviews, custom editors, notebooks, and testing. Extensions
    can contribute commands, menus, settings, and keybindings to the editor experience.
- aid: visual-studio:live-share-api
  name: Visual Studio Live Share API
  description: Extension-facing API (via the vsls npm module) that allows other VS Code and Visual Studio extensions to start,
    join, and end Live Share collaborative sessions and expose shared RPC services to guests.
  humanURL: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/services/live-share
  tags:
  - Code Collaboration
  - Pair Programming
  - Extensions
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/liveshare/
  - type: SDKs
    url: https://www.npmjs.com/package/vsls
  - type: Marketplace
    url: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MS-vsliveshare.vsliveshare
x-coverage:
  state: unreadable
  reason: no-machine-readable-spec
  method: derived
  generated: '2026-11-04'
  generator: derive-coverage.py (pre-flight evidence)
  detail: Visual Studio and VS Code extensibility are in-process SDKs (NuGet/npm) documented on learn.microsoft.com and code.visualstudio.com,
    and the Marketplace _apis gallery endpoint has no published OpenAPI on any probed host
  evidence:
  - url: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/
    status: 200
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-11-04'
  status: enriched
  artifacts_added: 1
  pass: local-v6

Microsoft Visual Studio API — frequently asked questions

Does Microsoft Visual Studio have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 4 APIs from Microsoft Visual Studio, including Visual Studio Extensibility API, Visual Studio Marketplace API and VS Code Extension API, and 1 more.

How much does the Microsoft Visual Studio API cost?

APIs.io lists 3 pricing plans for Microsoft Visual Studio, with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.

Is the Microsoft Visual Studio API ready for AI agents?

Microsoft Visual Studio has a Kin Score of 31.0 out of 100 (thin) and an Agent Readiness score of 3.9 (human-only), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.

Work with this as data

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MCP server

One button, every client — Claude, Cursor, VS Code and the rest.

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Tools for providers

9 MCP tools reach this

find_providersBrowse and filter every provider in the catalog.
get_provider_artifactsEvery artifact this provider publishes, grouped by type.
get_provider_operationsEvery operation across all of their OpenAPIs — one call instead of parsing every spec.
get_provider_toolsEvery MCP tool they ship, with the operation each wraps.
get_provider_evidenceHow each part of their score was established. Free — the basis for a claim should not sit behind it.
get_provider_ratingPRO — composite, band, trend and facet scores.
apis_io_searchSTART HERE — APIs, providers and tags for one query, each with its total.
resolveTurn a domain, URL or GitHub org into the provider it belongs to.
find_cohortsEvery scored population of providers in the catalog.

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