GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant for code completion, chat, code review and background agents, in the editor, terminal and on GitHub.

GitHub Copilot helps developers from an open issue to a merged pull request. In the editor it completes code, suggests the next edit, explains concepts and makes multi-file changes in agent mode, and it works in Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Neovim and Eclipse. Developers can assign issues to the Copilot cloud agent or to third-party agents such as Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, which work in the background and open pull requests, and Copilot can review pull requests. A desktop workspace tracks work across several agents, and Copilot CLI brings it to the terminal. Plans offer a choice of models, including Claude Opus on higher tiers, and organisations get audit logs, MCP server allow lists and shared knowledge from their docs and repositories.

GitHub Copilot at a glance

Best for: Software engineer
Runs on: VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, Web, macOS, Windows, Linux
Pricing: Free; Pro $10/month; Pro+ $39/month; Max $100/month; Business $19/user/month; Enterprise custom
Released: June 2021
Category: AI coding tool
Website: github.com

Key features

Code completion and next edit suggestions
Chat and agent mode in VS Code, JetBrains, Xcode and more
Cloud agent that turns issues into pull requests
Third-party agents including Claude Code and Codex
Automated pull request code review
Copilot CLI for the terminal
Model choice, including premium models on higher plans

Use it for

Assign a GitHub issue to an agent and review its pull request
Complete and refactor code inside the editor
Get automatic first-pass reviews on pull requests

Companions

Tools that articles about GitHub Copilot recommend using with it, each with its job.

GitHub MCP Server — Issues, pull requests and CI runs inside Copilot chat.
Context7 — Current, version-specific docs for accurate suggestions.
Playwright MCP — End-to-end testing from Copilot agent mode.
Firecrawl — Turns reference pages into clean Markdown for the agent.
MCP Toolbox for Databases — Connects Copilot to Postgres for schema and SQL work.
Sentry — Sentry MCP brings root-cause analysis into the editor.

Alternatives to GitHub Copilot

Copilot for Xcode — Integrates directly into Xcode to provide intelligent completions, chat, and agent mode.
CopilotKit — Connects your application to AI agents with generative UI and human approvals.
OpenCode — Works with 75+ model providers, local models, and existing subscriptions
CodeAutopilot — It automates issue resolution and pull request reviews directly inside GitHub.
OpenDots — Deploy specialized AI coworkers with dedicated computers and human-in-the-loop controls.
Claude Squad — Manages multiple AI agents in isolated git worktrees.
Coucou — It provides open-source, real-time agent monitoring and approvals directly from the screen notch.
CLI Dispatch — Runs alternative AI models as workers from inside Claude Code.
Claude Codex Bridge — Runs multiple AI coding agents concurrently with stable cross-provider collaboration.
jevgrep — Reduces coding agent costs by providing targeted, relevant repository context.
CodeGraph — It eliminates file crawling, reducing AI agent tool calls by 88% and cutting costs.
Cursor — Autocomplete, inline edits and parallel agents in one editor

All GitHub Copilot alternatives