GitHub Copilot coding agent 101: Getting started with agentic workflows on GitHub

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Earlier this year, GitHub introduced an integrated, enterprise-ready coding agent for Copilot. Coding agent is a software engineering (SWE) agent that runs independently in the background to complete assigned tasks — similar to a peer developer. 

The agent starts its work when you hand it a task. Then it spins up a fully customizable development environment, powered by GitHub Actions. You can track it every step of the way, from issue to pull request to review to approval. 

The agent is designed to help you offload tasks like fixing bugs, test coverage, or refactoring code, so you can work on what interests you most. ✨

Let’s learn more about coding agent, how it works, and how you can use it to work more efficiently.

What is GitHub Copilot coding agent?

Designed to amplify developer workflows and tackle assigned tasks end to end, GitHub Copilot coding agent works as your asynchronous AI teammate. You can hand tasks to coding agent multiple ways: 

• GitHub Issues: Assign an issue to Copilot on github.com or GitHub Mobile.
• Visual Studio Code: Delegate tasks to Copilot and track running tasks with the GitHub Pull Requests extension.
• Agents panel: Hand new tasks to Copilot and track existing tasks without navigating away from your current work by clicking View all tasks, or bookmark github.com/copilot/agents for direct access.

It’s more than just a pair programmer. Coding agent takes on low-to-medium complexity tasks so you can focus on what matters to you. To do its work, the agent reviews your repository’s context, including related issues, pull request discussions, and custom instructions.

Coding agent can help you:

• Fix bugs
• Implement incremental features
• Refactor code
• Improve test coverage
• Update documentation
• Accelerate secret scanning
• Address technical debt

Built with security in mind, coding agent’s pull requests require human approval before any CI/CD workflows run, which adds an additional layer of protection. And with built-in audit logs and branch protections, every change is reviewed before it ships to keep you in control.

Security first: Built-in protections for Copilot coding agent

Designed with security at its core, coding agent operates in a sandboxed environment with restricted internet access and limited repository permissions. The agent has many security features already baked in:  

• It can only push to branches it creates (e.g., copilot/*), ensuring your main and team-managed branches remain untouched. 
• All pull requests require independent human review since Copilot can’t approve or merge its own work. 
• CI/CD checks in GitHub Actions won’t run without your approval, and all commits are co-authored for traceability. 
• Your existing org policies and branch protections apply automatically.

How is coding agent different from traditional AI coding assistants?

When it comes to using a traditional AI coding assistant in an IDE, any code you write is stored locally. The assistant helps write the code, but developers still do most of the heavy lifting. They have to create the branch, write commit messages, push changes, open and write the pull request, manage reviews, iterate, and repeat. Doing all this work takes valuable time and effort.

On the other hand, Copilot coding agent helps automate developer workflows. Rather than working in isolated IDE sessions, the agent operates directly within the GitHub pull request workflow. It asynchronously automates tedious tasks like branch creation, commit writing, and pull request reviews, making the process more transparent and collaborative. Every step is logged, visible, and open to team input — turning solo coding into a shared, streamlined experience.

What’s the difference between coding agent and agent mode?

Coding agent is an asynchronous collaborator and works on your behalf like a teammate. It is an SWE agent that runs inside GitHub Actions, picks up issues you assign it, explores the repository for context, writes code, passes tests, and opens a pull request for your review.

Agent mode pairs with you synchronously as you work inside your IDE of choice — whether VS Code or JetBrains, Eclipse, and Xcode — as a real-time collaborator that iterates on code, runs tests, and fixes its own mistakes in real time.

BTW: Both use Copilot premium requests (coding agent only requires one), and coding agent uses GitHub Actions minutes, so plan and budget accordingly with your teams.

How does coding agent work?

Designed to fit into your development flow on GitHub, Copilot coding agent is built directly into GitHub’s native control layer. It starts working when you assign a GitHub Issue to Copilot, start a task from the agents panel, or initiate a task from Copilot Chat in VS Code. From there, the agent opens a draft pull request, pushes commits as it works, and logs key steps along the way so you can track its progress in real time.

Even though coding agent does the work, you remain in control throughout the entire process. You can review, give feedback, and ask Copilot to iterate via pull request reviews.

Under the hood, Copilot runs in a secure, ephemeral development environment powered by GitHub Actions, which is the world’s largest (and GitHub’s native) automation and CI/CD ecosystem. In its development environment, Copilot can explore your codebase for context, make changes, run tests and linters, and more. You can customize this development environment with the tools and dependencies you need, leveraging the catalog 25,000 community based actions.

How can I use coding agent in GitHub Copilot?

The process of using GitHub’s coding agent is similar to assigning a task to a teammate. To start, you can assign an issue to @github on GitHub.com, GitHub Mobile, or the CLI. You can use the agents panel on any page on GitHub.com. You can also prompt Copilot directly from GitHub Copilot Chat in your favorite IDE, or any Model Context Protocol (MCP)–supported tool. MCP lets you extend the agent’s capabilities with external data sources, and can even support vision models, so you can assign issues with screenshots or mockups.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use coding agent: 

1. Hand a task to Copilot, for example by assigning an issue or using the agents panel
2. Coding agent opens a draft pull request tagged [WIP] that it uses to track and complete its work. 
3. Once Copilot is done, it will update the pull request with a clear title and description and tag you for review
4. If anything needs to be changed, you can leave comments tagging @copilot on the draft pull request, and coding agent will use your feedback to iterate on its work.

Unlocking Copilot’s full potential with MCP

When you pair Copilot with Model Context Protocol (MCP), its capabilities expand dramatically.

MCP is an open standard that allows applications to share context with large language models (LLMs). Coding agent has both Playwright and GitHub MCP servers built right in, and you can add your own.

One thing to note: Copilot’s access to the internet is limited by a firewall, but default rules allow access to a number of hosts that Copilot uses to interact with GitHub or to download dependencies.

To get started, repository admins can configure MCP servers using a JSON file in the repo settings. Once enabled, coding agent uses these tools autonomously, streamlining workflows and reducing developer overhead.

Whether you’re building a feature or triaging bugs, MCP turns Copilot into an even more context-aware, tool-savvy, and capable coding partner.

Take this with you

Copilot coding agent can help you do your best work. It takes on the more tedious parts of development so you can stay in the zone, move faster, and focus on solving real problems.

Whether you’re working on developing a brand new idea or simply trying to get through a long list of fixes, coding agent can help you build momentum — with less friction and more flow. Happy coding!

Looking to try coding agent? Read the Docs or get started today.

More resources to explore:

• Learn how to add Github copilot coding agent to your organization
• Explore Copilot coding agent documentation 
• Learn more about responsible use of Copilot coding agent on GitHub.com

The post GitHub Copilot coding agent 101: Getting started with agentic workflows on GitHub appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

Delegate it a task, and coding agent can independently write, run, and test code. Here’s how you can make the most of it.

The post GitHub Copilot coding agent 101: Getting started with agentic workflows on GitHub appeared first on The GitHub Blog.