Copilot cloud agent
Assign it a GitHub issue and it works in its own environment, then hands back a branch or a draft pull request.
By GitHub · owned by Microsoft · launched 2025-05-19 · last checked 2026-11-01
Why 3: it works on a task in its own environment and can propose a plan for approval, but returns a branch or draft pull request and nothing merges without a person.
What it does. Formerly called Copilot coding agent, it takes a task, works on it in a separate environment and returns a branch or draft pull request for review. Since April 2026 it can also research a codebase and propose a plan for approval before it writes code. Through Agent HQ, announced in October 2025, GitHub also brings coding agents from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Cognition and xAI inside GitHub.
Where it falls short. Nothing merges without a person, which is the point, but review becomes the bottleneck. GitHub said in April 2026 that its previous pricing was "no longer sustainable" and moved to metered credits, so the cost of a long session is harder to predict.
What it can do
Incidents
- None logged.
Related coding agents
- Claude Code Anthropic · autonomy 4/5
- Codex OpenAI · autonomy 4/5
- Cursor Anysphere · autonomy 4/5
- Devin Cognition · autonomy 4/5
- Google Antigravity Google · autonomy 4/5
- Grok Build xAI (SpaceXAI) · autonomy 4/5
History
- 2026-11-01 Added to the index.
Sources
- GitHub Copilot: Meet the new coding agent GitHub, 2025-05-19
- Introducing Agent HQ: Any agent, any way you work GitHub, 2025-10-28
- Research, plan, and code with Copilot cloud agent GitHub, 2026-04-01
- GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing GitHub, 2026-04-27
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