Today we released SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 22.9.0, with updates to GitHub Copilot, the connection experience, Database DevOps, SQL formatting, and more. As always, we recommend that users update to the latest release when it’s available, as it’s the generally available and supported release. You can view the release notes for more details about the new features and fixes. We continue to monitor customer feedback and add functionality with each release, so if you’re using GitHub Copilot, Database DevOps, or SQL formatting, we appreciate you trying out what’s new and reporting any issues or requests on our feedback site.

GitHub Copilot in SSMS: Changes to Ask Mode

We've made an important behavior change to Ask Mode in GitHub Copilot in SSMS. Ask Mode is intended to be a read-only experience for getting guidance and script help, and we've heard clear feedback that users expect that experience to stay read-only regardless of credential scope.

To align with that expectation, Ask Mode no longer executes arbitrary queries, whether generated by the model or provided in chat. Instead, Ask Mode now returns T-SQL scripts in its responses for you to review and run yourself.

For most Ask Mode scenarios (like writing, refining, and understanding scripts) this should feel familiar. Copilot can still explore schema context to provide useful guidance, but it will not execute scripts to retrieve user data. This creates a clearer separation between advisory and execution experiences, keeps you in control, and sets a more intuitive boundary as we continue toward broader Agent Mode availability.

GitHub Copilot in SSMS: Agent Mode Progress

Agent Mode continues to evolve in preview. In 22.9, we've added a set of tools that allows GitHub Copilot to interact with connected objects in Object Explorer. This gives Agent Mode more awareness of the objects you're working with and lets it participate more naturally in workflows that start from Object Explorer.

Updates to the Connection Dialog

Toggle between horizontal and vertical layouts

This release brings a whole bunch of updates and improvements to the Modern Connection Dialog! These changes aim to make the connection dialog more flexible and accessible:

• Azure and Fabric browsing now supports subscription search and filtering. This applies when browsing Azure resources and workspaces as well as Fabric resources.
• The Browse tab now includes search and filtering.
• You can now browse Azure SQL Managed Instances.
• The server name field is now an editable drop-down menu, improving keyboard accessibility.
• The dialog now supports a horizontal layout.
• Hostname in certificate is available in the default connection properties view.
• Connection import and export is now supported.
• The maximum number of recent and favorite connections has increased to 60.
• Available SSMS themes are supported more consistently throughout the connection experience.

These changes make it easier to find resources, preserve connection setups, and work with the connection dialog in the way that best fits your screen and workflow.

Quickly select your connection with the Server Name drop down field.

Database DevOps (preview)

Database DevOps in SSMS continues to evolve. In 22.9, the Add Database Reference dialog has a refreshed UI with improved theme support and additional reference types. You can now choose among four reference types:

• dacpac
• database project
• NuGet package
• system database

We've also updated SqlProj document tab names to remove the confusing - not connected suffix. See Document tab names in SSMS sqlproj are not good.

SQL Formatter (preview)

The SQL Formatter preview now gives you more control over formatting and a clearer way to understand the result before applying it:

• Choose whether indentation uses tabs or spaces.
• Configure trailing comma style.
• Choose whether column aliases use the AS keyword, an equals sign, or preserve the original style.
• Insert a new line before the ON keyword.
• Preview before-and-after T-SQL in the SQL Formatter settings dialog.
• The Include Semicolons setting has also been removed.

These options are a starting point for making formatting work better across different SQL styles, and we welcome your feedback as the preview continues to improve.

Lots of Bug Fixes!

As always, the full list is in the release notes, but a few fixes that are worth calling out include:

• Connection dialog — You can now save multiple connection strings with different application intent values. See Unable to save 2 connection strings with different application intents using the new connect screen.
• Object Explorer — Some users could not view SQL Server Agent details despite having the proper permissions. That issue is fixed.
• Schema Compare — Fixed several issues involving comment-only differences, schemas that incorrectly showed no differences, the Ignore Comments setting, stored procedure formatting, and whitespace highlighting in the diff viewer. See Schema Compare Preview fails to display comment-only differences in front of create views, Schema compare shows no differences between different database schemas, Compare Schemas ignores comment differences regardless of Ignore Comments setting, When comparing stored procedures in Schema Compare, they are reformatted, and Schema Compare incorrectly flags differences in whitespace in table comparison.
• SQL Agent — Users no longer need EXECUTE permission on xp_instance_regread just to view or run SQL Server Agent jobs. See SQL Agent blocks AD groups from viewing jobs without xp_instance_regread access.
• SQL Formatter — Fixed an issue that merged CONSTRAINT lines into the preceding commented line. See SQL Formatter merges CONSTRAINT line into preceding -- comment.
• Results Grid — Toolstrip labels no longer truncate in some languages. See Visibility counts completed rows.
• Theme — The SSMS theme no longer reverts to Cool Breeze after restarting. See SSMS theme setting reverts from Dark to Cool Breeze after restart.
• Toolbar — Fixed an issue that caused several toolbar icons to disappear. See SSMS toolbar icons missing for query controls and execution plan buttons.