title: "UI Tour" description: "Where everything lives in VS Code" section: "Copilot" readTime: "5 min" badge: "NEW"

GitHub Copilot: UI Tour

Before you type a single prompt, here's how to read the cockpit.

The Chat View (Ctrl+Alt+I)

Your main control center for agents and tasks. On the left: list of sessions (active, background, cloud). On the right: conversation thread.

What you'll see:

Active agent type selector (Local/Background/Cloud)
System model badge (Claude 3.5 Sonnet by default)
Session name and status
Message history with file references

The Status Bar

Bottom left of VS Code shows:

🔴 Red dot = Not authenticated
🟢 Green dot = Ready
💬 Chat icon = Open Chat panel
⚡ Active model name = Click to switch models

Inline Chat (Ctrl+I)

In-editor floating prompt bar.

Use for:

Quick edits without opening Chat panel
Targeted changes to current file
Questions about selected code

Inline Suggestions

Grey ghost text appearing as you type.

Press Tab to accept. Escape to reject. These are powered by context from your codebase (through Sessions view).

Smart Actions

Right-click → Copilot submenu:

Add tests
Fix errors
Commit message
Semantic search
Generate JSDoc
Explain

Sessions View

Under "Copilot" in the VS Code sidebar (left panel).

Status indicators:

🟣 Purple = Active (running now)
🔵 Blue = Background (completed)
💧 Cloud = GitHub PR (in progress)

Click any session to view file changes, messages, and revert options.

Model Switcher

Click the model name in Chat to switch:

Default: Claude 3.5 Sonnet (fastest for most tasks)
Available: GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo (if subscribed), Claude Opus

Tips

✓ Keyboard shortcut card → Look in Chat panel for /help keyboard list
✓ Custom instructions → Settings > Copilot > Custom Instructions
✓ MCP servers → Settings > Copilot > MCP
✓ Agent skills → Settings > Copilot > Agent Skills

Next: Read the Full Guide to master agent types and workflows.