GitHub Copilot Coding Agent reached general availability at Microsoft Build on May 13, 2025, marking a significant evolution in GitHub Copilot’s capabilities: from an autocomplete assistant that helped developers write code to an autonomous agent that could complete coding tasks independently. The Coding Agent was a distinct product from Copilot’s autocomplete and chat features, operating asynchronously in a separate execution environment.
The workflow was straightforward: assign a GitHub issue to Copilot Coding Agent via the web, mobile app, VS Code, JetBrains, Slack, Linear, Jira, or REST API. The agent researched the repository, planned the implementation, created a branch, wrote code, ran the test suite via GitHub Actions in its own runner, iterated on test failures, and opened a draft PR — all within a 60-minute session limit. The developer received a review-ready PR without having directed a single line of the implementation.
A security separation constraint required that the person who assigned the issue could not be the same person who approved the resulting PR, enforcing a four-eyes review principle. The GA release was followed by the introduction of usage-based AI Credits billing in June 2026, applying to agent sessions alongside other Copilot capabilities. GitHub Copilot had reported over 15 million subscribers by mid-2025, representing the largest installed base of any AI coding assistant.