Microsoft used its Build 2026 conference to outline a wider strategy for Windows, positioning the operating system as a foundation for agent-driven software development. The company paired that message with new tools for developers, expanded AI capabilities on Windows devices, tighter security controls for local agents and fresh hardware aimed at building and running demanding AI workloads.
In a Windows Developer Blog post, Microsoft said it wants Windows to be a more trusted and adaptable platform for developers working across local systems and the cloud. The company said it is focusing on Windows 11 quality, stronger security and fewer workflow interruptions, while also preparing the platform for software that increasingly depends on AI agents.
One of the biggest announcements was Coreutils for Windows, which Microsoft said is now generally available. The toolset brings Linux-style command line utilities to Windows natively, giving developers a more consistent experience when moving between Windows, Linux, macOS, WSL, containers and cloud-based environments.
Microsoft also said WSL containers are coming soon to public preview. The feature builds on Windows Subsystem for Linux by offering a built-in way to create, run and interact with Linux containers on Windows. The company said this should cut reliance on third-party container software and give enterprises more visibility and control over container activity on developer machines. Microsoft is offering both CLI and API access for the feature.
The company added Windows Development Skills, now generally available, which gives agents structured guidance for building native Windows apps with WinUI 3 and WinApp CLI. It also introduced Intelligent Terminal in experimental preview, a terminal experience that can provide context-aware help for debugging and multi-step tasks.
For setup and onboarding, Windows Development Configurations is now generally available. Microsoft said the one-command setup configures a Windows 11 device with VS Code, GitHub Copilot, WSL, PowerShell 7 and other developer-focused settings. A Windows 365 version of that configuration is in public preview.
Microsoft devoted part of the announcement to security, reflecting the company’s emphasis on keeping agent workflows manageable inside enterprise environments. The new Microsoft Execution Containers, or MXC, SDK is in early preview and lets developers define what an agent can access, such as files and network resources, with those restrictions enforced at runtime.
Microsoft said Agent 365 will integrate with MXC, bringing Defender, Entra, Intune and Purview protections to local agents. That integration is expected in preview in July. The company also pointed to OpenClaw running natively on Windows with MXC and said NVIDIA is bringing OpenShell to Windows on the same foundation. Windows 365 for Agents, which provides managed Cloud PCs for computer-using agents, is already generally available.
Microsoft is also broadening Windows AI APIs and on-device model support. The company said new small language models will arrive in the coming months. Aion 1.0 Instruct is aimed at faster on-device use, while Aion 1.0 Plan is a reasoning and tool-calling model designed to support fully local agent capabilities.
The company said Windows AI APIs are expanding to more Windows 11 PCs across CPU and GPU hardware. Speech-to-text recognition will run on NPUs and CPUs, while on-device SLM support is expanding to capable discrete GPUs. Microsoft also said Video Super Resolution will be available on CPUs, giving developers more options for building features without relying on a cloud round trip.
Microsoft introduced two new developer-focused systems as part of the Build announcements. Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark silicon, is designed for local AI work and offers up to 1 petaflop of AI compute along with 128GB of unified memory. Microsoft said it comes with the developer-optimized Windows 11 setup preconfigured.
The company also announced DGX Station for Windows, which it described as a deskside AI system for developing and running agents and large models locally. The machine is powered by NVIDIA’s GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Superchip and is expected in the fourth quarter.
Microsoft rounded out the announcement with updates to Microsoft Store, including free and faster company onboarding with Entra ID support, shorter certification times and more detailed analytics and subscription reporting.
The company tied the broader set of announcements to Project Solara, a new platform it says is intended to support agent-first experiences shaped around the user, their tasks and their environment.