Secret scanning alert lists renamed to “Default” and “Experimental”

The secret scanning alert lists are now named “Default” and “Experimental,” better reflecting the alert categories and making it easier for you to tell experimental alerts from default alerts.

The Default list includes alerts for provider patterns and custom patterns. The Experimental list includes alerts for non-provider patterns and AI-detected passwords. You can view the alert counts of these two lists in the organization-level Security tab in the sidebar, bringing more clarity and visibility into your alerts.

You can filter within the alert list using results:default and results:experimental.

Learn more about secret scanning and the supported patterns.

Code security configurations now support archived repositories

You can now apply code security configurations to archived repositories. This makes it simpler to roll out configurations without having to filter for archived repos, and ensures features like Dependabot, code scanning, and secret scanning are automatically reapplied if a repo is unarchived.

If a repository has configurations applied and later becomes archived, the settings will persist and still apply.

Note: when a repository is archived, the only security feature that will still run is secret scanning. However, if the repository is ever unarchived, all other features in the applied configuration, such as Dependabot or code scanning, will be reapplied automatically.

This release also adds a new filter to the repository table on the code security configurations UI page, allowing you to filter for archived repositories with archived:true.

Learn more about code security configurations, the REST API and send us your feedback.

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Streamlined coding, debugging, and testing with GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code

A list of the GitHub Copilot Chat updates in the September VS Code release.

In the latest Visual Studio Code release, you will find a suite of enhancements to GitHub Copilot Chat, designed to streamline your coding, debugging, and testing processes.

These features are now available for you to try out in the latest version of Visual Studio Code.

Pick your language model

Sign up for early access to the latest OpenAI o1 models for more precise and efficient coding assistance. Once you have access, you will have the model picker control in Copilot Chat in VS Code. You can then choose which model version to use for your chat conversations.

Screenshot of the language model picker control in Cpilot Chat.

Enhanced code quality with GPT-4o

Copilot Inline Chat now uses GPT-4o, giving you faster, more accurate, and higher-quality code and explanations when you use Chat in the editor.

Public code matching in chat

You can allow GitHub Copilot to return code that could match publicly available code on GitHub.com. When this functionality is enabled for your organization subscription or personal subscription, Copilot code completions already provided you with details about the matches that were detected. We now show you these matches for public code in Copilot Chat as well.

If this is enabled for your organization or subscription, you might see a message at the end of the response with a View matches link. If you select the link, an editor opens that shows you the details of the matching code references with more details.

Screenshot of GitHub Chat in VS Code. A red rectangle highlights the end of a response that reads "Similar code found with 2 license types - View matches."

File suggestions in chat

In chat input fields, you can now type # to get file name suggestions and quickly attach them to your prompt as context. This works in chat locations that support file attachments, such as the Chat view, Quick Chat, Inline Chat, and Notebook Chat.

Drag and drop files to add chat context

You can now attach additional files as context for a chat prompt by dragging files or editor tabs from the workbench directly into chat. For Inline Chat, hold Shift and drop a file to add it as context instead of opening it in the editor.

File attachments included in history

When you attach a file or editor selection as relevant context to your chat request, Copilot Chat will include them in the history of follow-on requests so that you can keep referring to them without having to reattach them. Previously, this context was added only for the current request and was not included in the history of follow-on requests.

Chat conversation shows that Copilot keeps track of attached files across multiple prompts.

Inline Chat and completions in Python native REPL

The native REPL editor, used by the Python extension, now supports Copilot Inline Chat and code completions directly in the input box.

Semantic search results (Preview)

Setting: github.copilot.chat.search.semanticTextResults

You can perform an exact search across your files with the Search view. It also now uses Copilot to give search results that are semantically relevant.

This functionality is still in preview and by default, the setting is not enabled. Try it out and let us know what you think!

Fix test failure (Preview)

Setting: github.copilot.chat.fixTestFailure.enabled

New fix test logic now helps you diagnose failing unit tests. This logic is triggered in some scenarios by the /fix slash command, and you can also invoke it directly with the /fixTestFailure slash command. The command is enabled in chat by default but can be disabled via the setting github.copilot.chat.fixTestFailure.enabled.

Automated test setup (Experimental)

Setting: github.copilot.chat.experimental.setupTests.enabled

You can now use an experimental /setupTests slash command to configure the testing set up for your workspace. This command can recommend a testing framework, provide steps to set up and configure it, and suggest a VS Code extension to provide testing integration in VS Code.

When you use the /tests command to generate tests for your code, Copilot Chat can recommend /setupTests and testing extensions if it looks like such an integration has not been set up yet in your workspace.

Start debugging from Chat (Experimental)

Setting: github.copilot.chat.experimental.startDebugging.enabled

You can use the /startDebugging slash command to find or create a launch configuration and start debugging your application. When you use @vscode in Copilot Chat, /startDebugging is now available by default.

A user types /startDebugging flask app port 3000 in the panel chat and is provided with the launch configuration.

Chat in Command Center (Experimental)

Setting: chat.commandCenter.enabled

You can now access chat via the Command Center, which provides access to all relevant chat commands, like starting the different chat experiences or attaching context to your prompt. Note that the Command Center itself needs to be enabled for the chat Command Center entry to show.

Chat Command Center button and the drop-down menu with relevant chat actions.

Custom test generation instructions (Experimental)

Generating tests with Copilot helps you write code that is more robust. With custom instructions you can ensure that the generated tests meet your specific coding style and requirements.

Setting: github.copilot.chat.experimental.testGeneration.instructions

In addition, you can now define instructions for test generation in settings or import them from a file. For example, if you always want to use a particular unit testing framework for your tests. Configure the test-generation instructions in the github.copilot.chat.experimental.testGeneration.instructions setting.

✍️ We want your feedback

Try out these new features and share your experiences and feedback in our issues.

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