Theia IDE 1.76.x Preview Testing

[ndoschek]

The new version 1.76.0 of the Theia IDE is available on the preview channel now. Please join the preview testing!

You can download it here:

• Linux
• Mac x86
• Mac ARM
• Windows

Update your existing installation by setting the preference updates.channel to preview.

Please respond here when you can test the preview without finding blockers, by commenting with a ✔️.
If you find any issues, please mention them in this thread and report them as an issue once confirmed by other testers.

Phase	Target	Status
1.76.0 preview available	2026-09-25	✅
1.76.0 community preview window	2026-09-25 → 2026-10-02	⏳
Theia IDE 1.76.x Promoted to Stable	2026-10-02 + 1 business day
Docker image Publish	2026-10-02 + 1 business day
Snap updated	2026-10-02 + 1 business day

[ndoschek]

🚀 Theia 1.76.0 is out! Here are some highlights:

GitHub Copilot now runs on the official Copilot CLI
All Copilot requests are served by the official GitHub Copilot CLI, which you sign in to from within the application. You get access to all models available to your account, which you can review at https://github.com/settings/copilot/features.
Please note: You have to sign in again. The old sign-in is removed from the credential store on first start and a notification asks for a new one. The CLI needs to be reachable on the machine hosting the backend.

Models are discovered from the provider
The curated model lists for Anthropic, Google and OpenAI are gone. Theia asks the provider which models are available, so new models show up without waiting for a Theia release. The newest models of each provider are preselected for the chat input, and you can customize that list by marking favorites in the AI Configuration view. Pin a specific set with the new ai-features.<provider>.modelOverrides preference.
Please note: An API key found in the environment is no longer used silently. You confirm it once per provider via ai-features.<provider>.allowEnvironmentApiKey.

Screenshot

More AI where you work

• The SCM commit input has an AI overlay that drafts your commit message from the staged changes.
• Theia AI Chat now shows a live preview of the agent's thinking while it streams, so you can follow the reasoning as it happens.
• Theia AI Onboarding moved into a guided walkthrough: choosing a default chat agent and understanding tool confirmation are now steps on the Getting Started page, with your progress remembered.

Screenshots

Improved Enclave integration
enclave --tool theia[-next] creates a container and attaches a fresh Theia instance to it. A starting screen shows you the progress while the container comes up. Everything runs inside the container, so a session preference allows all tools by default and agents work without confirming every call.

• Run several enclaves side by side
• enclave ps lists the running containers
• Reconnect to a closed one with enclave theia[-next] <containerId>

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Full changelog for 1.76.0: https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/blob/release/1.76.x/CHANGELOG.md#1760---9242026