Copilot: Faster, smarter, and built for how you work now

You probably remember when GitHub Copilot first showed up in your editor with that little gray box. It was fast, surprising, and sometimes weird. But it hinted at something bigger: AI could actually help you code, not just autocomplete it.

Fast forward to today, and AI is part of our daily workflows. From Cursor to Windsurf and Claude Code to Gemini to OpenAI Codex, there’s no shortage of new tools. And that’s great. Developers need options.

But with 20 million-plus developers across IDEs, the command line, and pull requests, GitHub Copilot is the most-used AI tool among developers, according to a recent Pragmatic Engineer survey. Devs have used Copilot to accept more than 3 billion code suggestions to date. And every month, Copilot helps deliver millions of code reviews and contribute 1.2 million pull requests, directly inside GitHub.

And because GitHub is where your code already lives (plus your pull requests, reviews, and tests), Copilot doesn’t stop at writing code. It plugs into everything you rely on via the GitHub MCP Server.

We haven’t always been the fastest (though our Changelog may beg to differ) or the loudest. But we’ve been building Copilot since before ChatGPT existed, and we are focused on one purpose: to help developers turn TODOs into committed code. And while some chase the bleeding edge, we know developers don’t want their production code balanced on it. 

All that to say: if you tried Copilot early on, things have changed in some pretty big ways. 

From autocomplete to actual collaboration 💻

If 2024 was about showing what’s possible with AI, 2025 is about making it practical. Copilot has quietly grown from a neat autocomplete trick into a multi-modal, multi-model assistant that actually understands your projects and helps you move them forward.

After opening up support for multiple models from different providers in 2024,  we’ve been shipping new models almost as fast as they drop from OpenAI’s latest releases to Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash. 

This evolution didn’t happen by accident. Developers told us what worked, what didn’t, and that they wanted more powerful agentic workflows and multi-file editing. So we made that happen. 

And that’s just one part of how far Copilot’s come. It’s all part of a bigger goal: making Copilot smarter without you ever needing to install or configure a thing. 

From idea to merge in record time ⚡

Over the last year, raw speed and agentic workflows helped define a new crop of AI tools. We took that as a challenge.

• Agent mode: Copilot now takes on cross-file tasks, runs commands, refactors entire modules, and suggests terminal operations—all without leaving your editor.
  
• Coding agent: Assign an issue to Copilot, and it drafts a pull request with code, tests, and context from your project. Coding agent now contributes to roughly 1.2 million pull requests per month.
  
• Next-edit suggestions: Copilot predicts the next change you’ll make and offers it inline. One Tab and you’re done.
  
• Low-latency completions: Most Copilot responses now render in under 400 ms (fast enough that you stop noticing them).
  
• Copilot CLI: The same brains, now in your terminal. Setup, debug, and script without switching windows.
  
• Multi-model routing: Different jobs call for different brains. Copilot gives you access to multiple LLMs from leading frontier AI firms. 

The result: fewer interruptions, faster loops, and a workflow that finally keeps pace with how you think.

AI that scales with your workflow 📐

Copilot doesn’t live in a new environment you need to learn. It’s part of the same ecosystem you already use, and scales with it. 

• JetBrains + VS Code + CLI parity: Same Copilot, wherever you build.
  
• Custom instructions: Drop a .copilot-instructions.md file in to teach Copilot your naming conventions, test frameworks, comment formats.
  
• GitHub MCP Server: Lets any AI tool securely access your GitHub context (pull requests, issues, actions) without leaving GitHub.
  
• Workspace prompt files: Reusable blueprints for consistent prompts across teams.
  
• 20M+ developers strong: Every Copilot update compounds through the world’s largest network of real developer data (and feedback).

Copilot isn’t a separate tool you “add” to GitHub. It’s part of what makes GitHub a full-stack development platform. Other tools might help you code; Copilot helps you build, test, secure, and ship.

Smarter, cleaner, and safer code 🔍

Fast is nice. Correct is better (ask us how we know). We’ve spent a lot of cycles quietly leveling up Copilot’s overall code quality and security guardrails where they matter most to you. 

• Copilot Autofix: Detects and patches vulnerabilities automatically (it was used to fix over a million vulnerabilities this year alone).
  
• Code review: Summarizes diffs, flags logic bugs, and suggests fixes right inside your pull requests with a tool that powers millions of code reviews a month on GitHub.
  
• Improved model reasoning: Generates more readable, test-passing code with fewer lint errors and less regressions.
  
• CodeQL integration: Integrations with GitHub Advanced Security, Dependabot, and GitHub Actions keeps your supply chain solid.
  
• Built-in privacy: Enterprise isolation, audit logs, and tenant-level control mean your work stays off the grid. 

Our research shows new code written with Copilot tends to have higher readability, better reliability, and improved maintainability scores. 

Here’s the good news: Copilot’s backed by the same security stack that protects the world’s largest open source ecosystem and more than 90% of Fortune 100 companies.

Real talk: Copilot vs. the rest 👀

Let’s be honest: there are some great tools out there that make agentic coding workflows feel intuitive and bring real polish to multi-file editing. 

Copilot lives in GitHub. That means it’s close to everything else you do, whether it’s your pull requests, GitHub Actions workflows, or CI/CD pipelines. Every day, GitHub powers over 3 million pull request merges and 50 million actions runs. And Copilot lives in that flow. 

Other tools might help you write code faster. But Copilot helps you ship better software.

That means: 

• No migration, no new IDE, no new habits: Copilot lives inside the tools you already use. 
• Full-stack awareness: Your pull requests, reviews, tests, and workflows are part of the same conversation. 
• End-to-end coverage: Copilot brings AI assistance to real-world delivery. 

What’s next 🚀

We’re just getting started.

At the end of this month, GitHub Universe 2025 kicks off, and you can expect a lot of news. From smarter agent workflows to deeper multi-model integration and next-gen security features, we’re building what’s next for how software gets built.

Because our goal hasn’t changed. We’re here to help every developer commit code faster instead of chasing TODOs. 

Written by

Ashley Willis

@ashleymcnamara

Ashley Willis is the Senior Director of Developer Relations at GitHub, where she leads with a deep commitment to open source, community, and care. A longtime advocate for developers, Ashley has built a career around making technology more human, supporting contributors, amplifying underrepresented voices, and building resilient teams. Her work sits at the intersection of leadership, advocacy, and accessibility, with a focus on creating tools and spaces that genuinely serve the people who use them.