A spike of this functionality can be found at #1763.

Technologies

How might information about the GitHub context get into Visual Studio?

• URL handlers
• Copy/paste buffer
• Browser windows

URL handlers

At the moment there is the option to clone a GitHub repository from the repository's homepage. This is a push model where the action is initiated from outside Visual Studio and a new process is fired up.

This uses the git-client://clone?repo= protocol, which is built into Visual Studio 2015 and 2017.

Copy/paste buffer

Offer user the option to open a repository form a URL. This is a mixed model where an action is required from inside the browser (copy URL) and inside Visual Studio (open from URL).

Browser windows

Automatically detect open browser windows and offer to sync context from inside Visual Studio. This is a pull model where the action is initiated from inside Visual Studio and the current context is changed.

Related

• [spike] Open from GitHub URL
  [spike] Open from GitHub URL #1763

• RFC for Open in Atom: A quick way to switch from github.com to Atom.
  RFC for Open in Atom atom/github#1525