---
id: video/vcKHOR4p1MQ
type: video
title: "Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper"
summary: BC Container Helper deprecation (support ends October 1st, 2027), its planned replacement module (BC Container Helper 2, targeted for end of 2026), and the direction of AL-Go for GitHub, including the move of the Business Central application to the BC Apps repository and agentic engineering plans.
tier: community
language: en
tags:
  - al-go
  - bccontainerhelper deprecation
  - workspace compilation
  - ci-cd
  - agentic engineering
  - github actions
  - business central apps
  - container technology
  - devops
  - powershell migration
  - linux support
  - pipeline optimization
system: platform
review:
  state: reviewed
  by: opus
  at: "2026-10-07T23:17:06.802Z"
  flags: []
generated:
  at: "2026-10-07T23:17:06.919Z"
  pipeline: 0.2.0
  prompts:
    extract-video: 1
    summarize-video: 2
  input_hash: 6a1a18e4a4e892e23d76360cede8144c2f54394126aff5eccaaf245048d2735f
evidence:
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s
    title: "Code coverage in AL-Go: announced"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 831
    quote: Code coverage is one that's coming soon. Automatic reruns on flaky tests
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s
    title: "Automatic reruns on flaky tests: announced"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 831
    quote: Code coverage is one that's coming soon. Automatic reruns on flaky tests and stuff and flaky test management in general.
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=945s
    title: "BC Container Helper 2 module: announced"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 945
    quote: the BC Container Helper will be kind of split apart. Uh for now, we don't have a better name. We call it BC Container
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2060s
    title: "Business Central apps repository consolidation: announced"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 2060
    quote: the open source pilot will be killed because there will be no need for an open source. It's not a pilot anymore basically.
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2601s
    title: "PowerShell commandlet redesign to use NST APIs: announced"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 2601
    quote: there are some changes coming that actually I'm not probably not officially, but will kind of introduce support for PowerShell 5 again.
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=301s
    title: "Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 301
    quote: It provisioned more than 75,000 different containers. Compiled half a million apps and published about a million of these apps
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=350s
    title: "Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 350
    quote: Container Helper will go out of support on October 1st, 2027
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=523s
    title: "Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 523
    quote: we're kind of shifting towards github and al go for github in this agentic loop
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=595s
    title: "Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 595
    quote: this June we're going to be moving the entire business central application to BC apps. So that includes the base app, includes pretty much
  - kind: video
    url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=656s
    title: "Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper"
    date: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
    commit: null
    t: 656
    quote: by the end of June, once we're fully on AL Go for GitHub, you know, we can't ship without AL Go for GitHub
links:
  learn: []
  objects: []
  features: []
  topics: []
  localizations: []
  videos: []
  posts: []
  guidelines: []
video_id: vcKHOR4p1MQ
channel: yt-mibuso
source_name: mibuso.com / BC TechDays
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ
published_at: "2026-10-01T05:38:52.000Z"
duration_s: 2828
captions: derived
audience:
  - developer
  - administrator
  - decision maker
  - partner
chapters:
  - t: 0
    title: Introduction and Container Helper deprecation
  - t: 56
    title: Looking back nine years
  - t: 166
    title: Container Helper history and growth
  - t: 313
    title: Container Helper maintenance challenges and deprecation date
  - t: 366
    title: Container Helper usage scenarios
  - t: 461
    title: Vision for agentic engineering and AL-Go for GitHub
  - t: 556
    title: Moving Business Central to BC Apps on AL-Go
  - t: 656
    title: AL-Go improvements and future features
  - t: 898
    title: BC Container Helper deprecation and replacement strategy
  - t: 1088
    title: BC Container Helper 2 parameters and support timeline
  - t: 1261
    title: Migration roadmap and pipeline optimization
  - t: 1679
    title: Repository strategy and platform support discussion
  - t: 2017
    title: Azure DevOps vs GitHub and container performance considerations
  - t: 2454
    title: PowerShell migration and local development vision
features:
  - name: Container Helper
    status: unclear
    t: 166
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: AL-Go for GitHub
    status: unclear
    t: 461
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Workspace compilation
    status: unclear
    t: 693
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Build hooks in AL-Go
    status: unclear
    t: 753
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Test-only projects in AL-Go
    status: unclear
    t: 794
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Code coverage in AL-Go
    status: announced
    t: 831
    verified: true
    status_source: video
  - name: Automatic reruns on flaky tests
    status: announced
    t: 831
    verified: true
    status_source: video
  - name: Improved incremental builds
    status: unclear
    t: 831
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Turn-based testing
    status: unclear
    t: 841
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: PR reviewer agent
    status: unclear
    t: 854
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: BC Container Helper 2 module
    status: announced
    t: 945
    verified: true
    status_source: video
  - name: BC Apps repository
    status: unclear
    t: 569
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Gradual AL-Go module migration
    status: unclear
    t: 1613
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Pipeline decomposition
    status: unclear
    t: 1644
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Open repository for new BC Container Helper
    status: unclear
    t: 1868
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: AL Tool
    status: unclear
    t: 2003
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Business Central apps repository consolidation
    status: announced
    t: 2044
    verified: true
    status_source: video
  - name: Container performance improvements
    status: unclear
    t: 2292
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Linux support for BC Service
    status: unclear
    t: 2348
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: ALOps integration planning
    status: unclear
    t: 2417
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Partner authentication in BC Container Helper pipeline
    status: unclear
    t: 2460
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: PowerShell commandlet redesign to use NST APIs
    status: announced
    t: 2588
    verified: true
    status_source: video
  - name: Migration to GitHub for agentic engineering
    status: unclear
    t: 2648
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: Local development environment vision
    status: unclear
    t: 2732
    verified: false
    status_source: video
  - name: BCContainerHelper CLI instead of PowerShell module
    status: unclear
    t: 2787
    verified: false
    status_source: video
objects_mentioned:
  - other BC Apps
  - other run AL pipeline
  - other BC Container Helper
  - other AL Tool
  - other BC apps repo
  - other Business Central app suite
  - other NST
  - other ALOps
  - other Alpaca
  - other BCContainerHelper H2 module
quotes:
  - t: 301
    text: It provisioned more than 75,000 different containers. Compiled half a million apps and published about a million of these apps
    check: exact
  - t: 350
    text: Container Helper will go out of support on October 1st, 2027
    check: exact
  - t: 523
    text: we're kind of shifting towards github and al go for github in this agentic loop
    check: fuzzy
  - t: 595
    text: this June we're going to be moving the entire business central application to BC apps. So that includes the base app, includes pretty much
    check: exact
  - t: 656
    text: by the end of June, once we're fully on AL Go for GitHub, you know, we can't ship without AL Go for GitHub
    check: exact
---

# Microsoft presents: Looking ahead: the future of AL-Go and BCContainerHelper

> BC Container Helper deprecation (support ends October 1st, 2027), its planned replacement module (BC Container Helper 2, targeted for end of 2026), and the direction of AL-Go for GitHub, including the move of the Business Central application to the BC Apps repository and agentic engineering plans.

[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ) · mibuso.com / BC TechDays · 2026-10-01 · 47:08 · tier community · reviewed (checked by Opus)

## Overview

The session from BC TechDays looks back at nine years of Container Helper, which in the last week provisioned more than 75,000 containers, compiled half a million apps and published about a million apps. It explains why the tool is being deprecated and what replaces it: a slimmer separate module focused on the life cycle of BC environments, to be implemented as a CLI, with AL-Go functionality migrated to it gradually.

It then covers AL-Go for GitHub as the center of Business Central development: the planned move of the full BC application (about 15 million lines of AL, 35,000 files) to the BC Apps repository, current and upcoming AL-Go features, an internal PR reviewer agent, and Q&A on Azure DevOps, Linux, container speed, PowerShell versions and ALOps.

## Key points

- Container Helper goes out of support on October 1st, 2027. After that it stays as a GitHub repository, is not archived, and becomes community-maintained.
- A replacement module (working name BC Container Helper 2) is targeted for the end of 2026. It covers provisioning and deprovisioning containers and running scripts in them, will not have full feature parity, and is to be built as a CLI.
- Microsoft plans a 6-month period after the replacement is ready before Container Helper is discontinued. If that timeline slips, the end-of-support date moves out too.
- AL-Go still depends heavily on Container Helper. Functionality will be migrated gradually to the new module, not in a big bang, and the new code is to be opened once one AL-Go scenario works through it.
- Workspace compilation in AL-Go lets the compiler work out dependencies and compile apps in parallel. It helps most with 10 or more apps in a repository and is not available through Container Helper.
- AL-Go has build hooks (build initialize now, build finalize coming) and test-only projects. Code coverage, automatic reruns of flaky tests, improved incremental builds and turn-based testing are described as coming.
- The BC application is planned to move to BC Apps on AL-Go by June, with some delays already. A PR reviewer agent is in internal dogfooding and will be opt-in when released.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=0s) Introduction and Container Helper deprecation
- [0:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=56s) Looking back nine years
- [2:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=166s) Container Helper history and growth
- [5:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=313s) Container Helper maintenance challenges and deprecation date
- [6:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=366s) Container Helper usage scenarios
- [7:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=461s) Vision for agentic engineering and AL-Go for GitHub
- [9:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=556s) Moving Business Central to BC Apps on AL-Go
- [10:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=656s) AL-Go improvements and future features
- [14:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=898s) BC Container Helper deprecation and replacement strategy
- [18:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1088s) BC Container Helper 2 parameters and support timeline
- [21:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1261s) Migration roadmap and pipeline optimization
- [27:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1679s) Repository strategy and platform support discussion
- [33:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2017s) Azure DevOps vs GitHub and container performance considerations
- [40:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2454s) PowerShell migration and local development vision

## Features

| Feature | Status | At | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Container Helper | status not stated | [2:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=166s) |  |
| AL-Go for GitHub | status not stated | [7:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=461s) |  |
| Workspace compilation | status not stated | [11:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=693s) |  |
| Build hooks in AL-Go | status not stated | [12:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=753s) |  |
| Test-only projects in AL-Go | status not stated | [13:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=794s) |  |
| Code coverage in AL-Go | announced | [13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s) | "Code coverage is one that's coming soon. Automatic reruns on flaky tests" ([13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s)) |
| Automatic reruns on flaky tests | announced | [13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s) | "Code coverage is one that's coming soon. Automatic reruns on flaky tests and stuff and flaky test management in general." ([13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s)) |
| Improved incremental builds | status not stated | [13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s) |  |
| Turn-based testing | status not stated | [14:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=841s) |  |
| PR reviewer agent | status not stated | [14:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=854s) |  |
| BC Container Helper 2 module | announced | [15:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=945s) | "the BC Container Helper will be kind of split apart. Uh for now, we don't have a better name. We call it BC Container" ([15:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=945s)) |
| BC Apps repository | status not stated | [9:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=569s) |  |
| Gradual AL-Go module migration | status not stated | [26:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1613s) |  |
| Pipeline decomposition | status not stated | [27:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1644s) |  |
| Open repository for new BC Container Helper | status not stated | [31:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1868s) |  |
| AL Tool | status not stated | [33:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2003s) |  |
| Business Central apps repository consolidation | announced | [34:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2044s) | "the open source pilot will be killed because there will be no need for an open source. It's not a pilot anymore basically." ([34:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2060s)) |
| Container performance improvements | status not stated | [38:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2292s) |  |
| Linux support for BC Service | status not stated | [39:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2348s) |  |
| ALOps integration planning | status not stated | [40:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2417s) |  |
| Partner authentication in BC Container Helper pipeline | status not stated | [41:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2460s) |  |
| PowerShell commandlet redesign to use NST APIs | announced | [43:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2588s) | "there are some changes coming that actually I'm not probably not officially, but will kind of introduce support for PowerShell 5 again." ([43:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2601s)) |
| Migration to GitHub for agentic engineering | status not stated | [44:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2648s) |  |
| Local development environment vision | status not stated | [45:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2732s) |  |
| BCContainerHelper CLI instead of PowerShell module | status not stated | [46:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2787s) |  |

## AL objects mentioned

As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

- other "BC Apps" at [9:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=569s)
- other "run AL pipeline" at [27:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1629s)
- other "BC Container Helper" at [27:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1669s)
- other "AL Tool" at [28:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1735s)
- other "BC apps repo" at [34:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2070s)
- other "Business Central app suite" at [34:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2044s)
- other "NST" at [39:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2362s)
- other "ALOps" at [40:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2427s)
- other "Alpaca" at [40:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2427s)
- other "BCContainerHelper H2 module" at [46:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2787s)

## Quotes

- [5:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=301s) "It provisioned more than 75,000 different containers. Compiled half a million apps and published about a million of these apps"
- [5:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=350s) "Container Helper will go out of support on October 1st, 2027"
- [8:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=523s) "we're kind of shifting towards github and al go for github in this agentic loop"
- [9:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=595s) "this June we're going to be moving the entire business central application to BC apps. So that includes the base app, includes pretty much"
- [10:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=656s) "by the end of June, once we're fully on AL Go for GitHub, you know, we can't ship without AL Go for GitHub"

## Disclaimers in the video

- [0:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=45s) preview: Container helper is being deprecated
- [5:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=350s) coming-later: Container Helper will go out of support on October 1st, 2027
- [10:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=634s) subject-to-change: Unfortunately there were some complications that came in the way, but we're still on track to make it by June for moving Business Central application to BC apps
- [13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=831s) coming-later: Code coverage is coming soon to AL-Go, along with automatic reruns on flaky tests, improved incremental builds, and turn-based testing
- [14:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=854s) preview: PR reviewer agent is currently in testing and dogfooding phase, will ship as opt-in once mature
- [15:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=909s) coming-later: A year ago when we announced the deprecation of easy container helper
- [18:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1117s) coming-later: BC Container Helper will be supported until October 2027
- [21:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1261s) coming-later: Hopefully by end of 2026, we're going to have a new module, BC CH 2.0 something, whatever
- [26:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1613s) subject-to-change: gradually migrate functionality in Ail Go over to the new module, slowly roll it out
- [29:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1776s) subject-to-change: There won't be a full feature parity between what BC container helper can do and what BC container helper two can do
- [30:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1807s) subject-to-change: It's not in the plans right now, but but like I said, give us the feedback
- [31:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=1895s) coming-later: I think we'll make it available as soon as we can. As soon as we have at least one scenario
- [39:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2375s) subject-to-change: there are no official plans to do that. There are talks internally about it
- [39:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2385s) coming-later: There are no official plans to do that. There are talks internally about it
- [43:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKHOR4p1MQ&t=2601s) subject-to-change: there are some changes coming that actually I'm not probably not officially

Presenters (as heard): Yonas, Alex, Alexander, Freddy, Jesper, Marcos.