Overview
What GitHub Copilot is and what it can do in VS Code
title: "Overview" description: "What GitHub Copilot is and what it can do in VS Code" section: "Copilot" readTime: "4 min"
GitHub Copilot Overview
GitHub Copilot brings AI agents to Visual Studio Code. Describe what you want to build, and an agent plans the approach, writes the code, and verifies the result across your entire project.
What Copilot Can Do
- Build features end-to-end — describe a feature in natural language; the agent scaffolds, implements across files, and runs tests
- Debug and fix failing tests — agent reads the error, traces the root cause, applies a fix, re-runs tests
- Refactor and migrate codebases — coordinated changes across files with build verification
- Create PRs for team review — delegate to a cloud agent that branches, implements, and opens a pull request
Core AI Surfaces
| Surface | How to access | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Chat view (agents) | Ctrl+Alt+I (Ctrl+Cmd+I on macOS) | Multi-file, autonomous tasks |
| Inline suggestions | Type in editor (ghost text) | Completions as you code |
| Inline chat | Ctrl+I in editor | Targeted edits without context switch |
| Smart actions | Right-click menu, Source Control sparkle | Commit messages, fix errors, generate docs |
Agents Overview
An agent takes a goal, breaks it into steps, edits files across your project, runs commands, and self-corrects when something goes wrong. Each task runs inside a session you can track and review.
Agent types:
- Local — interactive, full workspace access
- Copilot CLI — terminal-based agent that can run in the background while you keep working
- Cloud — remote, runs on GitHub and returns pull requests
- Third-party harnesses — Anthropic Claude and OpenAI Codex, depending on your setup
Besides the Chat view, the dedicated Agents window lets you assign tasks and review sessions across projects. Open it with Chat: Open Agents window from the Command Palette or code --agents.
Built-in agents:
- Agent — autonomously plans and implements
- Plan — researches a change and proposes an approach before coding (
/plan) - Ask — answers questions without making file changes
Customization Options
| Option | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Custom instructions | Project-wide coding standards |
| Prompt files | Reusable prompts for common tasks |
| Custom agents | Specialized personas with specific tools |
| Agent skills | Domain-specific capabilities |
| MCP servers | Connect to external APIs, databases |
| Hooks | Run commands at lifecycle events |
| Agent plugins | Packaged bundles of the above |
Pricing
Chat and agent usage is measured in AI credits (1 credit = $0.01). Code completions and next edit suggestions are not billed in credits.
| Plan | Price | Included AI credits per month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Monthly allowance, 2,000 completions, Auto model selection only |
| Pro | $10/month | 1,500 |
| Pro+ | $39/month | 7,000 |
| Max | $100/month | 20,000 |
| Business | $19/seat/month | 1,900 per user |
| Enterprise | $39/seat/month | 3,900 per user (requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud) |
Plans and allowances change often. Check the official plans page for current numbers.
Run /init in chat to generate custom instructions for your project automatically.