GitHub Copilot is generally available to all developers

At GitHub, it’s part of our mission to build technology that makes developers happy. Since the launch of GitHub Copilot technical preview last year, it’s become abundantly clear that AI is one of the best tools to empower the next generation of developers.

Already, AI is acting as a copilot in our daily lives. It’s helping us write emails and essays, automatically generate photo albums of our loved ones, and even acts as a digital assistant to help us order groceries. But until now, AI has stopped short of improving code, leaving the process of developing software almost completely manual.

That’s changing now. Today, I am thrilled to announce that we are making GitHub Copilot generally available to individual developers. Your AI pair programmer is here.

With GitHub Copilot, for the first time in the history of software, AI can be broadly harnessed by developers to write and complete code. Just like the rise of compilers and open source, we believe AI-assisted coding will fundamentally change the nature of software development, giving developers a new tool to write code easier and faster so they can be happier in their lives.

Do you want to start using GitHub Copilot today? Get started with a free trial, and check out our pricing plans. It’s free to use for verified students and maintainers of popular open source software.

The wait is over

We specifically designed GitHub Copilot as an editor extension to make sure nothing gets in the way of what you’re doing. GitHub Copilot distills the collective knowledge of the world’s developers into an editor extension that suggests code in real time, to help you stay focused on what matters most: building great software.

When you type code or comments, GitHub Copilot suggests the next line of code. But it’s not only a single word or line of code. GitHub Copilot can suggest complete methods, boilerplate code, whole unit tests, and even complex algorithms.

With more than 1.2 million developers in our technical preview over the last 12 months, people who started using GitHub Copilot quickly told us it became an indispensable part of their daily workflows. In files where it’s enabled, nearly 40% of code is being written by GitHub Copilot in popular coding languages, like Python—and we expect that to increase. That’s creating more time and space for developers to focus on solving bigger problems and building even better software.

And now, you can put the power of GitHub Copilot to work in your preferred environment with a free trial. Try GitHub Copilot for yourself.

Free for verified students and maintainers of popular open source projects

GitHub Copilot wouldn’t be possible without GitHub’s vibrant community of students and creators. To support and give back to those communities, we’re making GitHub Copilot available for free to verified students and maintainers of popular open source projects.

If you’re a student and want to participate in the program, apply for the GitHub Student Pack to get started. And if you’re an open source maintainer, check out our FAQ to see if you qualify to start using GitHub Copilot at no cost.

Coming to companies later this year

GitHub Copilot is our first step toward empowering developers with AI. Starting today, it’s now available to all developers, and we’ll begin offering it to companies later this year. 🚀

Written by

Thomas Dohmke

@ashtom

Fascinated by software development since his childhood in Germany, Thomas Dohmke has built a career building tools developers love and accelerating innovations that are changing software development. Currently, Thomas is Chief Executive Officer of GitHub, where he has overseen the launch of the world's first at-scale AI developer tool, GitHub Copilot -- and now, GitHub Copilot X. Before his time at GitHub, Thomas previously co-founded HockeyApp and led the company as CEO through its acquisition by Microsoft in 2014, and holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from University of Glasgow, UK.