From 2b686e019d3d4c159675875962ff09d2be943b69 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: YuliiaKovalova <95473390+YuliiaKovalova@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:29:05 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/5] Update VersionPrefix to 18.5.0

---
 eng/Versions.props | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/eng/Versions.props b/eng/Versions.props
index 118d568f08c..48a73f73a64 100644
--- a/eng/Versions.props
+++ b/eng/Versions.props
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   <Import Project="Version.Details.props" />
 
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <VersionPrefix>18.4.0</VersionPrefix>
+    <VersionPrefix>18.5.0</VersionPrefix>
     <PreReleaseVersionLabel>preview</PreReleaseVersionLabel>
     <PackageValidationBaselineVersion>18.0.2</PackageValidationBaselineVersion>
     <AssemblyVersion>15.1.0.0</AssemblyVersion>

From 71276079dc47887d9296936c2497c2f322a15d42 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: YuliiaKovalova <ykovalova@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:34:56 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/5] update insertion logic

---
 .config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc | 6 +++++-
 azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml    | 2 ++
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc b/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc
index 13efaeba878..16cf3552e28 100644
--- a/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc
+++ b/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc
@@ -30,8 +30,12 @@
         "vs18.0": {
             "MergeToBranch": "vs18.3"
         },
-        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.3 (SDK 10.0.2xx) into main
+        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.3 (SDK 10.0.2xx) into vs18.4 (SDK 10.0.3xx, VS)
         "vs18.3": {
+            "MergeToBranch": "vs18.4"
+        },
+        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.4 (SDK 10.0.3xx) into main
+        "vs18.4": {
             "MergeToBranch": "main"
         }
     }
diff --git a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
index 76f7ff3a5d1..9361d00a618 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ parameters:
 variables:
   # `auto` should work every time and selecting a branch in parameters is likely to fail due to incompatible versions in MSBuild and VS
   - name: AutoInsertTargetBranch
+    ${{ if eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.5') }}:
+      value: 'rel/d18.5'
     ${{ if eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.4') }}:
       value: 'rel/d18.4'
     ${{ elseif eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.3') }}:

From 9b6e5afa5a203d0c0af06f57a5e0c6c3ac44bcfa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: YuliiaKovalova <ykovalova@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:37:48 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 3/5] fix condition

---
 azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
index 9361d00a618..eb67ab36136 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ variables:
   - name: AutoInsertTargetBranch
     ${{ if eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.5') }}:
       value: 'rel/d18.5'
-    ${{ if eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.4') }}:
+    ${{ elseif eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.4') }}:
       value: 'rel/d18.4'
     ${{ elseif eq(variables['Build.SourceBranchName'], 'vs18.3') }}:
       value: 'rel/d18.3'

From c5d6fe00b54cc3e3e1c31fcc4dcd1dd15ce7f0b1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: YuliiaKovalova <95473390+YuliiaKovalova@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:38:51 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 4/5] Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Rainer Sigwald <raines@microsoft.com>
---
 .config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc b/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc
index 16cf3552e28..1733ebd1d16 100644
--- a/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc
+++ b/.config/git-merge-flow-config.jsonc
@@ -30,11 +30,11 @@
         "vs18.0": {
             "MergeToBranch": "vs18.3"
         },
-        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.3 (SDK 10.0.2xx) into vs18.4 (SDK 10.0.3xx, VS)
+        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.3 (SDK 10.0.2xx) into vs18.4 (VS)
         "vs18.3": {
             "MergeToBranch": "vs18.4"
         },
-        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.4 (SDK 10.0.3xx) into main
+        // Automate opening PRs to merge msbuild's vs18.4 (VS) into main (VS canary, SDK main & next-feature-band)
         "vs18.4": {
             "MergeToBranch": "main"
         }

From 041295f3e358c3d580bfe37b51ba6cd30f1665c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: YuliiaKovalova <ykovalova@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:15:07 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 5/5] more changes related to - rel/d18.5

---
 azure-pipelines/vs-insertion-experimental.yml | 1 +
 azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml              | 1 +
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion-experimental.yml b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion-experimental.yml
index 5b05db87d14..c28ba2e8035 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion-experimental.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion-experimental.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ parameters:
     displayName: 'Insertion Target Branch (select for manual insertion)'
     values:
       - main
+      - rel/d18.5
       - rel/d18.4
       - rel/d18.3
       - rel/d18.0
diff --git a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
index eb67ab36136..e60fae499b9 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines/vs-insertion.yml
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ parameters:
     values:
       - auto
       - main
+      - rel/d18.5
       - rel/d18.4
       - rel/d18.3
       - rel/d18.0