Tag: github-copilot

Copilot Chat reads your .github/copilot-instructions.md fine, but Agent mode and *.instructions.md files often look ignored. Here is the actual checklist: settings, file locations, applyTo globs, and how to prove the file made it into context.

On May 17, 2026 GitHub flipped the default Copilot model on Business and Enterprise plans from GPT-4.1 to GPT-5.3-Codex. GPT-4.1 stays free until June 1, then it falls under usage-based billing. Here is what changes for pinned models in your repo and CI.

GitHub deprecated claude-sonnet-4 on May 6, 2026 across Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions. Recommended migration target is Claude Sonnet 4.6. What to grep for in your repo before the next pinned model selection silently breaks.

Turn the unwritten rules in your repo into a SKILL.md that GitHub Copilot loads on demand. Frontmatter, descriptions that route, file references, and how to verify it actually fires.

GitHub Copilot for VS Code shipped Bring Your Own Key on April 22, 2026. Wire your own Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, or Azure account into Chat, or point at a local Ollama or Foundry Local model. Billing skips the Copilot quota and goes straight to the provider.

Visual Studio 2022 17.14.30 bundles the Azure MCP Server into the Azure development workload. Copilot Chat can hit 230+ Azure tools across 45 services without installing a thing.

Visual Studio 18.5 GA ships a guided Debugger Agent workflow in Copilot Chat that forms a hypothesis, sets breakpoints, rides along through a repro, validates against runtime state, and proposes a fix.

Visual Studio 2026 18.5.0 lets GitHub Copilot load Agent Skills from .github/skills, .claude/skills, and ~/.copilot/skills. Reusable SKILL.md instruction packs travel with your repo.

GitHub Copilot Modernization is pitched as an Assess, Plan, Execute loop for migrating legacy .NET apps. The assessment phase is where the value lives: an inventory report, categorized blockers, and file-level remediation guidance you can diff like code.

The .NET team shares ten months of real data on running GitHub's Copilot Coding Agent in dotnet/runtime: 878 PRs, a 67.9% merge rate, and clear lessons on where AI-assisted development helps and where it still falls short.