What to Expect from Microsoft Build 2026

Microsoft Build 2026

Microsoft Build is almost here, and it is centered on AI agents, cloud platforms, developer tools, and what it actually takes to build production systems with all of that. Build will say a lot about where Microsoft wants developers to go next.

The announcements will be interesting, but what matters is whether the sessions point to real, usable patterns. That is the part I care about most. As I have been saying for a while, the AI agent wave is not just about what agents can do. It is about how they fit into real workflows, how they change the shape of teams, and what it takes to build with them in production.

If you are trying to decide whether to attend, what to watch, or how to prepare your schedule, here is what to know about Microsoft Build 2026. I also pulled together a list of the sessions I am most interested in seeing, plus a tool created for Build that looks genuinely useful before, during, and after the event.

Microsoft Build 2026 location

Microsoft Build 2026 is on June 2-3, 2026 in San Francisco, California. If you are like me and can’t make it to Build in person this year, much of the Build conference sessions will be streamed and available online for free.

For in-person attendees, there is a badge pickup on Monday, June 1. If you are arriving early, it is a good idea to pick up your badge then because it usually makes the first morning much smoother.

The in-person San Francisco event is sold out. If you already have an RSVP code and want to attend in person, you can still register.

Microsoft Build 2026 online

Microsoft is offering a free digital attendance option for Build 2026.

The online experience includes:

livestreamed keynote access
livestreamed sessions
session scheduler and favorites
on-demand keynote and session content

If you are like me and cannot be in San Francisco, you can still follow the major announcements live, save sessions to your schedule, and catch up later on demand.

Why Microsoft Build matters

Build is where Microsoft usually does its best job connecting platform strategy to actual developer work. It is one thing to hear that GitHub Copilot is getting more agentic, that Microsoft Foundry is expanding, or that data platforms are becoming more AI-native. It is another thing to see those ideas show up in keynote messaging, technical breakouts, demos, and labs. And it is yet another thing to see those ideas in the context of real production patterns, reliability challenges, and team workflows.

This Satya Nadella quote is not Build-specific, but I think it still captures why events like Build matter:

“Developers are the builders of this new era, writing the world’s code.”

That line comes from Nadella’s 2018 post, Microsoft + GitHub = Empowering Developers, and it still feels like the right framing for Build 2026. The event works best when it helps developers understand not just what Microsoft launched, but what they can actually build next.

Watching the Microsoft Build Keynote

The anchor session for the event is Microsoft Build opening keynote. Satya Nadella is the listed speaker, and the keynote is available both in San Francisco and online.

The keynote page says Nadella and Microsoft leaders will share how Microsoft is creating new opportunities for developers across its platforms in the era of AI.

That sounds broad, but that is exactly what I want from the keynote. I want the top-level story first. I want to see how Microsoft positions GitHub, Microsoft Foundry, Azure, open standards, and developer tooling as one connected direction instead of a long list of unrelated features. That will inform how I think about the rest of the sessions and announcements.

My must-see Microsoft Build 2026 sessions

I split these into two tiers: the sessions I would treat as top priority, and the ones I still want to watch if the schedule allows.

Where the public session page exposed speaker profile links, I used them here. A few pages showed speaker names without a public profile link for every speaker, so I did not make those up.

Top sessions I want to watch

Deploy. Observe. Learn. Reinforcement learning for production agents (BRK231). Alicia Frame and Omkar More make this one hard to skip because it sounds like the practical loop of ship, measure, learn, and improve that every team will eventually need. Reinforcement learning applied to real production agents is not a topic many sessions are touching directly.
From prototype to production: build and run agents at scale (BRK241). Tina Schuchman and Jeff Hollan are covering the transition of getting something out of demo mode and into something a team can actually run. That gap is where most AI projects stall.
Build context-aware agents: From data to decisions (BRK240). Context is where agent quality either becomes useful or falls apart. Amanda Silver and Marco Casalaina get into the design decisions behind that.
Foundry IQ: Fuel agents with enterprise knowledge and agentic retrieval (BRK246). Pablo Castro is speaking on the retrieval story of how Microsoft is making enterprise knowledge feel more directly usable by agents rather than just searchable.
Scott and Mark learn…how agents reshape software engineering (BRK247). Mark Russinovich and Scott Hanselman will take us on a practical and high-signal journey of where they think software engineering is heading, while having some fun along the way, I’m sure.
Aspire for agents: Transform how you build and deploy distributed apps (BRK205). I want to see how the Aspire story evolves when agents are part of the distributed system. David Fowler will provide solid, concrete guidance, not just slogans.
Build secure and enterprise-ready agents with Agent 365 (BRK251). Neta Haiby, Kendra Springer, and Ray Zhong are on a session aimed directly at the security and governance questions teams keep running into once agents move into real environments.
Why your AI code doesn’t ship: Closing the gap to production (BRK200-R1). Mario Rodriguez and Evan Boyle are speaking, and the title gets at the real problem, which is exactly why it is on my top list.

More sessions I want to watch

Scott and Mark learn to Vibe Check (LIVE101). I want to see Scott Hanselman and Mark Russinovich in this format because the live setting usually produces more candid takes than a standard breakout.
From rows to reasoning: Designing databases for AI apps and agents (BRK223). AI apps still live or die on data shape and access patterns, and it looks like Charles Feddersen and Abe Omorogbe get into the reasoning layer that sits above the database in this session.
Distributed systems to AI platforms with Mark Russinovich & Ion Stoica (BRK227). Mark Russinovich and Ion Stoica are a strong pairing, and I expect this to draw a useful line between classic distributed systems thinking and the AI platform layer.
From CLI to PR: Automating the path to merged code (BRK203). The idea of agents handling the path from a local change all the way to a merged pull request is worth watching closely. I’m looking forward to this session from Evan Boyle and Cassidy Williams.
Inside Azure innovations with Mark Russinovich (BRK226). This session with Mark Russinovich is a session I never want to miss at every flagship Microsoft conference. He always gives a clear view into where Azure infrastructure is headed next.
Claw and agent harness in Microsoft Foundry (BRK243). Glenn Condron, Amanda Foster, and Shawn Henry provide a look at how Foundry is exposing agentic workflows with the Claw agent pattern and hosted agents.
Multi-agent patterns in VS Code you won’t learn from docs (BRK201). Pierce Boggan, Kent C. Dodds, Burke Holland, Julia Kasper, Harald Kirschner, and Chris Reddington are promising things the docs do not cover, which should make this a dense and practical session.
Azure DevOps meets GitHub, the path to AI powered SDLC (BRK202). Dave Burnison and Dan Hellem are speaking, and I want to hear how Microsoft is framing the SDLC story across GitHub and Azure DevOps as AI enters more of the pipeline.
Future of Developer Productivity: Microsoft’s EngThrive Framework in Practice (BRK210). I expect Tim Bozarth will deliver a useful look at how Microsoft is actually measuring and improving developer productivity, rather than just asserting it.
GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio: Agents That Debug, Profile, and Test (BRK207). I’m excited to hear from Nik Karpinsky and Mads Kristensen on how far Copilot is actually moving into the debugging and testing workflow in Visual Studio.
Turn your agents into action: Connect tools, APIs, and documents (BRK242). Ronak Chokshi, Joe Filcik, and Maria Naggaga are delivering a session that could turn abstract agent talk into concrete integration patterns for tools, APIs, and documents.

The most useful conference tool - Microsoft Build CLI

One of the more interesting Build-adjacent projects right now is the Microsoft Build CLI, an open-source skill for GitHub Copilot CLI that connects your local project to the Build session catalog.

The short version is simple. Instead of browsing the Build catalog like a static list, you can ask questions in a way that is grounded in your project, your stack, and your goals.

According to the repository and skill documentation, the Build CLI can help you:

find Build sessions relevant to your existing codebase
discover what is new for your technology stack
summarize sessions and explain why they matter
create or refine a personalized schedule
log notes tied to specific session codes during the event
scaffold follow-up projects from session content after the event

That makes it useful in three different phases.

Before Microsoft Build

This is where the tool may be most obviously useful. If you have a real project open, the Build CLI can read files like package.json, requirements.txt, .csproj, or other dependency manifests and use that inventory to recommend sessions that actually match your stack.

That is a lot better than scrolling the catalog manually and guessing.

During Microsoft Build

During the event, the Build CLI can act more like a working companion. The documented workflows include logging notes from a session, looking up a session by code, and getting next steps after a session ends.

That is exactly the kind of thing I want when I am moving quickly between talks and trying to convert interesting ideas into action items.

After Microsoft Build

This is the part I think a lot of conference tooling misses. The Build CLI is designed to help after the event too, including scaffolding a project from a session and surfacing what changed for your stack.

It is not just a schedule tool. It is a bridge between conference content and actual implementation.

If you want to explore it, the repository is here: microsoft/Build-CLI.

Microsoft Build events near you

Not everyone can make it to San Francisco, and not everyone wants the full conference experience to be purely virtual. That is where Build //localhost becomes interesting.

These local events are designed to bring the Build experience into regional developer communities. That usually means a more accessible and more conversational follow-up to the main event.

The most reliable public links I found for those right now are these regional Reactor series pages:

Those local events matter because they give people a second chance to process the big announcements in a more grounded setting. That is often where the best conversations happen.

More information about Microsoft Build 2026

If you are planning your week, these are the links worth bookmarking:

Final thoughts

If Build 2025 was the year Microsoft pushed hard on AI agents, Build 2026 looks like the year those ideas get more practical.

That is why I will be paying close attention to the announcements and sessions.

I want to hear how Microsoft is thinking about production agents, model choice, reliability, GitHub Copilot workflows, and the next shape of cloud development. More importantly, I want to see how much of that story is ready for teams that actually have to ship.

Whether you are attending in San Francisco, joining online, or planning to catch a Build //localhost event afterward, this year’s event looks like it will be worth the time.

And I’d love to hear what you think about the announcements and sessions as they unfold. So feel free to tag me on the socials and let’s chat about your thoughts and questions.