GitHub Copilot Boosts VS Code Token Efficiency

The shift toward usage-based billing makes developer client optimizations like local embedding-guided tool search just as crucial as the underlying foundation model improvements.

• –Extended Caching: Enabling 24-hour prompt cache retention prevents cold-start latency and reduces costs after user breaks.
• –Deferring Tools: Marking tools with `defer_loading` keeps large JSON parameter schemas out of the context window until the model explicitly requests them.
• –Persistent WebSockets: Replacing repeated HTTP connections with WebSockets dramatically improves latency across multi-turn agent sessions.
• –Client-Side Embedding Search: Offloading tool search to local embeddings allows intent-based matching and dynamic MCP tool discovery without server roundtrips.
• –Specialized Subagents: Delegation of tasks like workspace search or summarizing to cheaper, specialized models reduces the main agent's context overhead.