Sr. Content Developer at Microsoft, working remotely in PA, TechBash conference organizer, former Microsoft MVP, Husband, Dad and Geek.
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Building Persistent Page Transitions with WebGPU and Vanilla JavaScript

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A step-by-step tutorial showing how to build seamless GPU-powered page transitions by combining a persistent WebGPU scene, DOM tracking, and a lightweight vanilla JavaScript router.



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alvinashcraft
8 minutes ago
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Pennsylvania, USA
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GitHub Copilot SDK Deep Dive: Session Memory

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The GitHub Copilot SDK just shipped a new feature: optional memory configuration on session create and resume. Here is what it does, and how it is different from persisted sessions.

The wrong mental model first

When I heared "session memory" my first thought was "persisted sessions" — the ResumeSessionAsync flow that lets you reload an existing session by ID and continue where you left off. That is not what this is. Persisted sessions are about durability of the conversation itself: close the app, reopen it, pick up the thread. Memory configuration is something different.

What memory configuration actually does

Memory is a feature of the Copilot runtime that lets the agent read and write facts across turns — a kind of long-running knowledge store that the agent can consult and update during a session. Think of it as the agent's notepad, not the conversation log.

The new MemoryConfiguration type exposes a single Enabled flag today. You opt in per session, on both create and resume:

var session = await client.CreateSessionAsync(new SessionConfig
{
    Model = "gpt-4o",
    Memory = new MemoryConfiguration { Enabled = true }
});

That's it. The SDK serialises it as { "memory": { "enabled": true } } on the wire. When you leave Memory unset, the field is omitted entirely and the runtime applies its own default.

Now we can ask our agent to remember stuff:

The mode-based default matters

There is a subtle default you need to understand. The SDK has two client modes:

  • CopilotClientMode.CopilotCli (the default): Memory is left unset. The runtime decides.
  • CopilotClientMode.Empty: Memory defaults to disabled unless you explicitly set it.

A caller-supplied value always wins in either mode. If you are building an app on Empty mode and you want memory, you must opt in explicitly. The runtime will not silently enable it for you.

Persisted sessions vs. memory: the actual difference

  Persisted sessions Memory configuration
What it stores The full conversation thread Facts/notes the agent writes
Lifetime Until you delete the session Managed by the runtime
API surface ResumeSessionAsync(sessionId) SessionConfig.Memory
Scope Cross-process, cross-restart Within the session, agent-controlled

A persisted session lets you reload the conversation. Memory lets the agent remember things across turns within — and potentially across — sessions, depending on how the runtime implements it.

You can use both at the same time: resume a persisted session with memory enabled, and the agent brings its notepad along.

Resuming with memory

ResumeSessionAsync also accepts the memory configuration:

var session = await client.ResumeSessionAsync(sessionId, new ResumeSessionConfig
{
    Memory = new MemoryConfiguration { Enabled = true }
});

This means you can control memory independently of whether the session is new or resumed. Useful if you want to enable memory for an existing session that was originally created without it.

More information

PR #1617 — SDK: add optional memory configuration to session create and resume

GitHub Copilot SDK Deep Dive: CopilotClientMode

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alvinashcraft
9 minutes ago
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First Public Working Draft: Verifiable Credential Forgery Defense v1.0

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The Verifiable Credentials Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft today for the Verifiable Credential Forgery Defense v1.0 specification. This publication is complementary to the publication of quantum-resistant cryptosuites and is motivated by the same threat. While cryptosuites let issuers secure new proofs with post-quantum signatures, this specification lets an issuer establish post-quantum-backed authenticity for credentials that may have been signed with conventional quantum-vulnerable algorithms and cannot, or is not feasible, to re-issue them. This is achieved by publishing a witness list that is itself the subject of a separate Verifiable Credential that can be signed with a quantum-resistant scheme.

The Working Group welcomes comments via the GitHub repository issues.

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Pointer Events Level 3 is now a W3C Recommendation

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The Pointer Events Working Group is pleased to publish Pointer Events Level 3 as a W3C Recommendation. The features in this specification extend or modify those found in Pointer Events, a W3C Recommendation that describes events and related interfaces for handling hardware-agnostic pointer input from devices including a mouse, pen, or touchscreen. For compatibility with existing mouse-based content, this specification also describes a mapping to fire Mouse Events for other pointer device types. 

This revision includes new features: altitudeAngle, azimuthAngle, pointerrawupdate event, associated coalesced events, and built-in predicted events.

Following the newer Recommendation, Pointer Events Level 2 has been marked as a W3C Superseded Recommendation:

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alvinashcraft
1 hour ago
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How to answer the question 'What's your book about?'

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1198. This week, we look at how to answer the question every author dreads: "So, what's your book about?" with workplace communications coach Joel Schwartzberg. We look at the difference between describing a book and selling it, how nonfiction authors can craft point-driven responses, and how fiction writers can distill their stories into a compelling pitch.


Joel Schwartzberg is a workplace communications coach, speaker, and speechwriter. He's the author of "Get to the Point: Simplify, Sharpen, and Sell Your Message," and you can find him at joelschwartzberg.net


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alvinashcraft
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No more regressions with Snapshot Tests in C# using Verify: a practical guide

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Snapshot Tests are an uncommon type of test that focuses on checking that no regressions were introduced after a code refactoring. Let’s learn how they work and how to use the Verify NuGet library to add them to your test suite.
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