# Context is all you need: Better AI results with custom instructions

DevFeed: [Context is all you need: Better AI results with custom instructions](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/context-is-all-you-need-better-ai-results-with-custom-instructions-4012.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2025/03/26/custom-instructions>)

Author: Rob Conery, Harald Kirschner

Published: 2025-03-26T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Visual Studio Code - Code Editing. Redefined.](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/visual-studio-code-code-editing-redefined.md>)

Topics: [GitHub Copilot](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/github-copilot.md>), [Visual Studio Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/visual-studio-code.md>), [Prompt Engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/prompt-engineering.md>), [Markdown](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/markdown.md>), [Vanilla JavaScript](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/vanilla-js.md>)

Tags: [2025](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/2025.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [article](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/article.md>), [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [copilot](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/copilot.md>), [feature](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/feature.md>), [features](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/features.md>), [github-copilot](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/github-copilot.md>), [javascript](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/javascript.md>), [markdown](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/markdown.md>), [workflow](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/workflow.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains how custom instructions in Visual Studio Code give GitHub Copilot project-specific context, including team workflows, style preferences, and libraries. It also introduces preview prompt files, which use Markdown to make prompts shorter while improving the relevance and formatting of Copilot's responses.

## Source excerpt

Announcing the general availability of custom instructions for VS Code. Read the full article