vercel/ncc

Prepare for GitHub Actions Visual Studio 2026 rollout in `windows-latest`

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#1309 opened on Mar 1, 2026

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help wanted

Description

What would you like?

Monitor rollout of Visual Studio 2026 in GitHub Actions' Windows runner images and ensure CI tests continue to work.

Why is this needed?

  • https://github.com/actions/runner-images/issues/13638 announces Windows Server 2025 with Visual Studio 2026 using the tag windows-2025-vs2026

  • Windows Server 2025 with Visual Studio 2026 image now available for GitHub-hosted runners (Feb 5, 2026) states:

    A new Windows runner image with Visual Studio 2026 is now available in public preview. This dedicated image runs alongside the current windows-2025 image, providing a safe validation path ahead of the default Windows image migration. Visual Studio 2026 will be integrated into the windows-2025 image when it reaches general availability on May 4, 2026.

    You can test against Visual Studio 2026 without disrupting existing pipelines, identify and fix compatibility issues on your timeline, maintain fallback options (like windows-2022) if needed, and plan migrations with full visibility into the upgrade timeline.

    To use the the new runner image, update the runs-on: target in your YAML workflow file to windows-2025-vs2026. For additional information on the available windows runner images, visit our doucmentation (sic).

  • Workflow ci.yml uses windows-latest

  • Repo / workflows are not compatible with Visual Studio 2026

CI test results

GitHub Runner Image Node.js 20 Node.js 22 Node.js 24
windows-2022 fail pass fail
windows-2025 pass pass fail
windows-2025-vs2026 fail fail fail

windows-latest is currently set to windows-2025 and planned for transition to windows-2025-vs2026 on May 4 12, 2026

Suggestions

Short term

In workflow ci.yml

  • drop support for Node.js 20 with EOL transition on 2026-04-30 and then
  • downgrade from windows-latest to windows-2022

Medium term

Investigate possibilities:

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascripttypescriptgithub actions
Domain
devopsci cd
Issue type
chore
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
basic GitHub Actions knowledgeYAML workflow syntax
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
55
Research direction
The issue requires investigating the GitHub Actions runner image transition for Windows, specifically the move from windows 2025 to windows 2025 vs2026. The main file to modify is `.github/workflows/ci.yml`. The issue provides a table of test results and short term and medium term suggestions. The first step is to understand the current CI matrix and decide whether to drop Node.js 20 support and downgrade to windows 2022 in the short term, or to adapt to Visual Studio 2026 and Node.js 24 in the medium term. Check the linked issue #1308 for Node.js 24 support.