CODE Presents - Orlando (free event)

Turning Legacy Brownfield Apps Evergreen using Copilot and VS Code

John Miller

This instructor-led workshop teaches developers how to modernize legacy “brownfield” applications into maintainable “evergreen” codebases using GitHub Copilot and VS Code's AI capabilities. Participants will learn how AI can identify code issues, generate tests, create remediation backlogs, and establish CI/CD gates that prevent future debt accumulation through demonstrations using an actual technical debt-laden project. The workshop covers using Copilot to surface legacy code problems, comparing AI model outputs for reliability, and implementing sustainable development practices. By day's end, developers will understand actionable approaches for maintaining long-term code health in legacy system environments using intelligent AI-assisted tooling.

This event took place on Tuesday, December 2, 2025.

Presenter: John M. Miller

When: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 8:00am Central Time (CT)

Duration: 7 hours (approximately, includes an hour for lunch)

This one‑day workshop focuses on transforming legacy brownfield applications into sustainable, “evergreen” codebases using GitHub Copilot and VS Code's AI-assisted development environment. Through interactive, attendee‑led sessions, participants will leverage Copilot's code generation capabilities and VS Code's integrated tooling to create instruction files and prompts that guide AI to identify technical debt, generate actionable backlogs, and propose improvements to make codebase evergreen.
Using a project already burdened with technical debt, attendees will explore how GitHub Copilot and VS Code can:

  • Surface and document issues in legacy code that keep code brown.
  • Generate tests and identify gaps to improve coverage and protect working systems.
  • Support backlog creation and prioritization for remediation.
  • Enforce evergreen practices through CI/CD gates and PR hooks that prevent new debt from being introduced.
  • Compare outputs from multiple AI models to understand bias and improve reliability.

By the end of the day, participants will have practical experience in applying GitHub Copilot and VS Code's AI capabilities to move a project from brownfield to evergreen, learning how to sustain long‑term code health in environments where legacy systems are the norm through intelligent tooling and AI-assisted development practices.