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Help > About and Check for Updates should link to release notes#326431

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kunalpandey1:issue-326426-changelog-links
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Help > About and Check for Updates should link to release notes#326431
kunalpandey1 wants to merge 5 commits into
microsoft:mainfrom
kunalpandey1:issue-326426-changelog-links

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@kunalpandey1

@kunalpandey1 kunalpandey1 commented Jul 18, 2026

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Summary

There is currently no easy way to open the VS Code changelog from Help → About or from Check for Updates.

This change adds Release Notes access in those flows:

  • Help → About: add a Release Notes button next to Copy / OK
  • Check for Updates when no update is available: add a Release Notes button on the dialog
  • Check for Updates when an update is available: surface Release Notes in the update tooltip (with a dialog fallback if title-bar updates are disabled)

Fixes #326426

Test plan

  • Open Help → About and confirm Release Notes appears; clicking it opens the current release notes
  • Run Help → Check for Updates… with no update available and confirm the dialog has Release Notes
  • Run Help → Check for Updates… with an update available and confirm Release Notes is reachable from the update UI
  • Confirm Release Notes buttons are hidden when releaseNotesUrl is not configured
  • npm run typecheck-client passes

Make the changelog easier to find from Help > About and from
the Check for Updates flow when an update is or is not available.

Fixes microsoft#326426
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 18, 2026 06:38
@vs-code-engineering

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📬 CODENOTIFY

The following users are being notified based on files changed in this PR:

@deepak1556

Matched files:

  • src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts

@benibenj

Matched files:

  • src/vs/sessions/browser/parts/dialogs/mobileAwareDialogHandler.ts
  • src/vs/sessions/browser/parts/dialogs/mobileDialog.web.contribution.ts
  • src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/dialogs/dialog.web.contribution.ts
  • src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/dialogs/dialogHandler.ts

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Pull request overview

Adds Release Notes access to About and update-check flows across desktop, web, and Agents window dialogs.

Changes:

  • Extends About dialogs with a Release Notes action.
  • Adds Release Notes to update-result dialogs, including windowless macOS.
  • Automatically surfaces the update tooltip after explicit checks.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file
File Description
src/vs/workbench/electron-browser/parts/dialogs/dialogHandler.ts Adds Release Notes to native About dialogs.
src/vs/workbench/electron-browser/parts/dialogs/dialog.contribution.ts Handles the desktop About action.
src/vs/workbench/contrib/update/browser/updateTitleBarEntry.ts Surfaces explicit update results in the title bar.
src/vs/workbench/contrib/update/browser/update.ts Adds update-result Release Notes dialogs.
src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/dialogs/dialogHandler.ts Extends browser About dialogs.
src/vs/workbench/browser/parts/dialogs/dialog.web.contribution.ts Handles the web About action.
src/vs/sessions/browser/parts/dialogs/mobileDialog.web.contribution.ts Handles the Agents window About action.
src/vs/sessions/browser/parts/dialogs/mobileAwareDialogHandler.ts Forwards extended About options.
src/vs/platform/update/electron-main/notAvailableUpdateDialog.ts Updates the windowless macOS dialog.
src/vs/platform/dialogs/common/dialogs.ts Defines the extended About-dialog contract.
src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts Supplies services to the macOS update dialog.

Comment thread src/vs/workbench/contrib/update/browser/updateTitleBarEntry.ts Outdated
Comment thread src/vs/workbench/contrib/update/browser/updateTitleBarEntry.ts
Comment thread src/vs/workbench/contrib/update/browser/update.ts Outdated
@kunalpandey1

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@microsoft-github-policy-service agree

kunalpandey1 and others added 3 commits July 18, 2026 12:38
Gate Release Notes UI on releaseNotesUrl, delay until productVersion
is known (macOS Downloading has no update yet), and fall back to the
latest release notes URL when the target version is unavailable.
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Help >> About does not link to changelog

4 participants