Pick the repository and base branch when assigning issues to Copilot

[ebndev]

We're bringing you a range of additional options for assigning Copilot to issues as part of this public preview. When assigning an issue to Copilot coding agent, you can now choose which repository Copilot should work in, pick a starting branch, and provide additional instructions to give it more context.

CCA.issue.assign.mp4

Here’s what’s new:

• Start Copilot assignment in one click: Assign tasks directly to Copilot with the new Assign to Copilot button. This feature makes it easier and faster to start a Copilot assignment with a single click.
• Pick the target repository: Choose any repository you have access to, even if your issues and code don't live in the same place. Now you can work with Copilot across repositories, so it's easy to start assignments from issues no matter where your code is stored.
• Pick a starting branch: Choose which branch Copilot should start from. Whether you want Copilot to work off a feature branch, a bug fix branch, or any other starting point, you now have the flexibility to direct Copilot’s work to exactly where you want it.
• Add additional instructions: Give Copilot more context with optional instructions. You can provide specific guidance, requirements, or extra details to help Copilot understand exactly what you want to accomplish. This makes assignments more precise and helps Copilot deliver results that match your needs.
• Automate with the API: Assign issues to Copilot using both GraphQL and the REST API, as well as configure the target repository, base branch, custom instructions, and custom agents. Check out the changelog and the below examples to get started.

REST API examples

Add assignees to an issue

gh api \
  --method POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  /repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/assignees \
  --input - <<< '{
    "assignees": [ "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" ],
    "agent_assignment": {"target_repo":"OWNER/REPO","base_branch":"main","custom_instructions":"","custom_agent":""}
}'

Create an issue

gh api \
  --method POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  /repos/OWNER/REPO/issues \
  --input - <<< '{
    "title": "Found a bug",
    "body": "I'\''m having a problem with this.",
    "assignees": [ "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" ],
    "agent_assignment": {"target_repo":"OWNER/REPO","base_branch":"main","custom_instructions":"","custom_agent":""}
}'

Update an issue

gh api \
  --method PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  /repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER \
  --input - <<< '{
    "assignees": [ "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" ],
    "agent_assignment": {"target_repo":"OWNER/REPO","base_branch":"main","custom_instructions":"","custom_agent":""}
}'

GraphQL API examples

Note that all requests must include this header:

GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support

updateIssue

gh api graphql -f query='mutation() {
  updateIssue(input:{
    id:$ISSUE_ID,
    assigneeIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add a cat emoji to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }}){issue{url number id}}}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

createIssue

gh api graphql -f query='mutation() {
  createIssue(input:{
    repositoryId:$REPO_ID,
    title:"Create issue and assign Copilot",
    body:"Created via gh api :tada:",
    assigneeIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add a cat emoji to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }}){issue{url number id}}}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

addAssigneesToAssignable

gh api graphql -f query='mutation Assign() {
  replaceActorsForAssignable(input:{
    assignableId:$ISSUE_ID,
    assigneeIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add an Octocat as ascii art to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }
  }) {
    assignable { ... on Issue { id number url assignees(first:10){ nodes { login id } } } }
  }
}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

replaceActorsForAssignable

gh api graphql -f query='mutation Assign() {
  replaceActorsForAssignable(input:{
    assignableId:$ISSUE_ID,
    actorIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add an Octocat as ascii art to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }
  }) {
    assignable { ... on Issue { id number url assignees(first:10){ nodes { login id } } } }
  }
}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

For more details, check out our documentation on assigning Copilot to an issue.

👇 Want to share feedback on this public preview or join the conversation? Please comment below!

Disclaimer: The UI for features in public preview is subject to change.

[SIkebe]

Add additional instructions: Give Copilot more context with optional instructions. You can provide specific guidance, requirements, or extra details to help Copilot understand exactly what you want to accomplish. This makes assignments more precise and helps Copilot deliver results that match your needs.

What’s the difference between giving instructions in a comment on an issue and this additional instructions?

[labudis]

@SIkebe The issue description (body comment) and the additional instructions are combined into a single set of instructions for Copilot. If you are happy with the context in the issue body, then there is no need to add any additional instructions. However, if you think of anything that could help Copilot in its assignment, the additional instruction prompts provide a low-friction opportunity to add that context without having to go back and edit the issue body.

[societystacktrace]

Seems broken. Getting errors - on mobile (iOS) and web. Worked earlier - now fails.

Assignment failed: Please check that the selected repository and branch are valid.

[MoritzRohleder]

I got the same Issue with my repository. I created the issue in the Repository that the code is in and the branch is the default branch. Even the dirty workaround of changing the base branch temporarily didn´t work.

[lukewar]

Hey @MoritzRohleder, thanks for the note! Are you seeing this consistently across all issues when assigning Copilot, or only in specific cases?

[MoritzRohleder]

It's consistent on all issues within the same repository yes. I haven't had a chance to test it in another repository yet though

[kaushal98]

I am seeing this too. Trying it for the first time though.

[kaushal98]

Ok turns out, despite the error above, The task was indeed assigned to Copilot and it opened a draft a PR

[NourEldinShobier]

Thanks for this cool feature. But how can I automate it using the GraphQL API?

I tried to follow this doc and it successfully creates the issue via GraphQL and assigns Copilot it with no issue.

However, Copilot doesn't start working automatically on the issue. So I was wondering how to configure these new popup values via GraphQL so that Copilot starts on its own

[NourEldinShobier]

@GomanovNA Did you ensure all permissions needed are set the same way @lumaxis mentioned above? That's what fixed it for me

[GomanovNA]

@NourEldinShobier I think I do have all permissions necessary (even though it was working with less then that like 2 weeks ago), I even regenerated token and then used new one in my Azure logic app

but still Copilot is not starting action, I just see it's assigned to issue, but no activity happens(

[owenniblock]

@GomanovNA it looks from the screenshot like you're selecting Codespaces rather than "Code" which @lumaxis referenced above. In the UI it's called Contents - sorry for the confusion. Please try this and let me know if it's still not working.

We're working behind the scenes on improving this part of the system so hopefully we'll make it a bit more friendly soon.

[GomanovNA]

Yep, thank you all guys, finally it worked with this list of permissions in token!

[owenniblock]

Great, thanks for letting us know @GomanovNA 👍🏼

[mitchelsellers]

This is a helpful feature, however, I have been simply providing instructions in the issue for this in the past, which is traditionally how I would provide any custom instructions to my development teams. So in a lot of ways this actually adds a step to my process.

For example, if something was to be done targeting a specific hot-fix branch, it would be part of the issue requirements, and historically CoPilot has actually caught that behavior without any issues in the past.

The additional instructions, that's pretty nice though, to separate AI instruction from human.

[mitchelsellers]

@labudis Sorta - Now I have to add/select additional information that may already be inside the ticket. In my example above, I have to duplicate the information that was in the ticket and choose the proper branch. Not a huge deal, just a shift that could be something missed, especially if I'm trying to bulk assign items to copilot, etc, I then have to manually grab/update things

[owenniblock]

@mitchelsellers the contents of the Issue still get send to Copilot as before so you should just be able to leave the custom instructions blank and not change the repo and branch and it will be using the same details as it would previously when you assigned Copilot.

Same goes for bulk assignment on the Issues list etc.

[mitchelsellers]

Ok, so it will ignore the set value in that case? (I guess I can try it)

[owenniblock]

Let us know if it doesn't work as you'd expect and we'll take a look 🙂

[labudis]

@mitchelsellers the additional prompt is completely optional. It simply gets appended to the issue description so if you are happy with the issue body there is no need to add anything else, and you can simply go ahead with the assignment.

[RMagician]

great feature, love that you can now select a starting branch :) was an issue I was bumping into quite a bit

[labudis]

Thank you for the feedback! Curious, does this enable any new use cases for you?

[RMagician]

not necessarily but it saves me a whole lot of merge to main create new issue from main branch revert commit in main branch, so it has speeded up my workflow considerably. I'd been using mirrored repos as well so that this workflow wouldn't actually impact day to day ops, and now there's no need to :)

[ryaugusta]

Hey, I'm having an problem assigning Copilot an issue and targeting a specific repository. I'm not seeing all repositories that I have access to in that dropdown list, only a small subset of org/repo combinations. I tried adding a copilot environment (https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/use-copilot-agents/coding-agent/extend-coding-agent-with-mcp#customizing-the-built-in-github-mcp-server) with a fine-grained token but haven't been able to get that list to update. Is there a setting I'm missing?

[ryaugusta]

oh interesting, that's now working thank you. Is this a reflection of the copilot environment and token? Or will this dropdown be populated based on the users access?

[owenniblock]

@ryaugusta it's difficult to get the right line for searching for repos - we've opted for defaulting to search within the org where the issue exists (so if your issue lived in my-org/my-repo the initial list contains a mix of your most active repos, but when you search, it searches by default within my-org - the logic being that you're most likely to be assigning issues to repos within the same org).

If you need to search outside the org, entering my-other-org/ should allow you to find other repos but it's a bit fiddly in that case.

[ryaugusta]

thanks @owenniblock ! Makes sense to me.

[labudis]

@ryaugusta am I assuming correctly that you are looking to assign an issue from one Organization to another? I'd love to understand your setup/use case a little more as we assumed that most users will want to assign issues within the same organization. Thank you!

[ryaugusta]

Hey @labudis, that's correct. Essentially the use-case for my team is performing a migration from another SCM onto GitHub and then leveraging Copilot to do some tasks on the migrated repository. Once the repository is migrated we have to assign copilot to go to the target org/repo and perform those tasks.

[LayZeeDK]

Branch name when assigning an issue to Copilot

When assigning an issue to Copilot via the dialog in preview, the branch name Copilot creates is in the format copilot/fix-<uuid>. For easy checkout, I would like to revert to the branch name format copilot/fix-<issue-number>.

[railapex]

Yeah, this was one step forward, two steps back.

Please let us fully define the work branch name, either in the prompt/copilot instructions or with a format setting.

We'd like to do <issue-number>-friendly-branch-description.

[labudis]

Thanks for the feedback! We are exploring some improvements in this area :)

[LayZeeDK]

Thanks. It is really hard to keep track of all the UUIDs in the branch view, in local Git, and when creating a task PR to merge into another task PR.

[LayZeeDK]

Thanks for introducing well-named GitHub Copilot coding agent branches ❤️

[LayZeeDK]

On a touchscreen device, it is inconvenient that pressing Enter in the task dialog creates the task rather than make a line break. I have already created too many tasks with missing context 😬

How can I make a line break in the dialog on for example an iPad?

[owenniblock]

Thanks for reporting. Sorry for the inconvenience. The workaround for now will be to compose those instructions is some other editor, while we are working on a more permanent solution.

[LayZeeDK]

I figured out that on the iPad soft keyboard there is a Shift button that can be toggled and then hit Enter to make a line break like Shift+Enter on a physical keyboard.

I'm not sure what the best user experience is in this case though.

[LayZeeDK]

I figured out that the reason I’m confused by this is that other textareas on GitHub.com handle Enter as line break, for example when writing this comment or updating a PR description.

[LisaKr]

hi! I have been looking at it and I cannot repro it on any browser, phone or even Xcode simulator. does the problem persist for you? If so, could you please record a video and tell us which browser/iOS you are using? thanks!

[TylerCode]

Love this feature, is nice that you can specify the branches and whatnot.

[louwers]

I am getting:

Assignment failed: Request could not be processed. Please try again or contact support if the issue persists

[monwolf]

I'm having the same problem. I'm going through an issue, assigning it to Copilot, and when it asks the branch, and you confirm it crashes

The error on the api is 422 Unprocessable Content
x-github-request-id: 0DEE:306226:5B1A43:758223:68F0C43B

[epaulsen]

@monwolf @louwers Same issue, here but I was able to resolve it.

When assigning an issue directly to github copilot, I got the same error message.
However, if I tried to give it a task via the dropdown at the top of the repository, it spit out a more detailed error message.

When i looked at the request in browser dev tools, it gave me this response:

{"message":"job cannot be created due to repository rules violation: [\"Commit author email restrictions apply (must match regex ***) due to repository rules\"]","errors":null}

Indeed. We do have an org-wide regex ensuring that all commits has a valid email.
After modifying the policy to allow <number_omitted>+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com , copilot coding agent started working happily.

[nadavsinai-philips]

HI Getting this reply too - Assignment Failed Assignment failed: Request could not be processed. Please try again or contact support if the issue persists.
the API response is 422 status with body
{"error":"Failed to create job for issue #14675: ","jobs":[]}
github request ID -
9C3D:638A6:31C4B5:76A81C:68FDDB9D
please advice, the copilot coding agent is working fine on our repositories we have, I am an admin for both types (working/non-working repos)

[kelsey-myers]

@nadavsinai-philips 👋🏾 Just looked into your request ID and it's due to the repository rules: {"message":"job cannot be created due to repository rules violation: [\"Branch creation is blocked due to repository rules\"]","errors":null} Copilot was unable to create a branch.

We're working on surfacing these kinds of errors in the UI - sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime!

[nadavsinai-philips]

@kelsey-myers thanks for that, apart from having that error surface to the user, may I suggest that copilot generated branch names will follow a naming scheme template that it possible for the user to control eg release//feat/copilot/-title
or something of the sort

[Munvik]

Great feature. Thank you

[luisotavio-dev]

Great feature, it's been very useful to me, thank you.
I'd like to suggest adding customizable branch names as well. I don't know if that's in the plans, but it would be very useful so I could sync the branch name with my feature, for example, in Trello.

If there's already a way to do this before Copilot starts, I apologize; I'm still learning how to use it completely.

Congratulations again on the incredible progress.

[humanchimp]

I absolutely love this lil guy overall. however, i keep seeing this

Exhibit: this has happened to me many times... it says to try again "in a few minutes". result? i get two PRs instead of 1 and then i end up needing to do at least 3x as much code review, because i have to compare the 2 prs and decide which one is better. then i have to code review the one i chose. this is a convenient bug for microsoft because it results in me paying 2x for metered copilot time 🤔

[PickHub]

When I click "Assign to Copilot" on an issue, I get this pop-up where I can select a custom agent. Is there an option to assign an issue (add_to_assignees) to Copilot with a Custom Agent via the REST API as well?

[PickHub]

@owenniblock Great! That's both for assigning custom agents and just the general agent? Or should the latter work already? If yes, what's the correct assignee for that? I tried Copilot and copilot-swe-agent with no luck:

github.GithubException.GithubException: Validation Failed: 422 {"message": "Validation Failed", "errors": [{"message": "assignees copilot-swe-agent cannot be assigned to this issue", "value": ["copilot-swe-agent"], "resource": "Issue", "field": "assignees", "code": "invalid"}], "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest/issues/issues#create-an-issue", "status": "422"}

[PickHub]

gentle bump @owenniblock

[owenniblock]

Sorry - I missed these pings. We've not rolled it out to users yet - but I'll let you know as soon as it's out.

It will allow you to assign Copilot with the settings you see on the UI (so repo, branch and custom agent). I believe that the first iteration will require Copilot to be referenced as copilot-swe-agent[bot] but there's work being discussed about making that a little more friendly.

[owenniblock]

@PickHub sorry for not pinging you on this directly. This is now rolled out for all users - let me know if you see any issues with it 🎉

[PickHub]

Awesome, thanks for following up!

[electrovir]

While creating a new issue and choosing to assign to Copilot, it's unclear to me if I need to finish creating the issue or not before hitting "assign". Will Copilot pick up the issue body that I haven't written yet, once the issue is created?

[rileybroughten]

Copilot starts working once you've selected Create to officially create the issue, so you can still modify the issue body even after you assign Copilot.

[sebastianhuus]

I would like to be able to pass a prompt to Copilot when I'm requesting a review. Currently Copilot gives a review based on the code changes but sometimes I would like it to review something specific, for example the strategy used or verify that we don't have regression based on semantics alone. I haven't tested it but I assume you could influence this by including that in the PR body or in a comment before you request a review. It would be nice to have some more explicit way to interact with the review mode for GitHub Copilot like when you assign a PR.

[rflulling]

Disclaimer I am neither a dev nor a rep and in some cases I am maybe the least experienced user in terms of what I have done or accomplished. However I like to think I have stress tested the onsite variant pretty well, just not as a group.

I use now three main strategies. One the chat, its fast and you can see what its doing. Most of the time when the scope is clear or you are mostly brain storming, its extremely powerful. But it gets scope creep easily and once distracted from the goal you might as well just open a new chat. Worst nothing here will persist as the oldest messages will start to vanish. Though oddly the AI will remember most of it, so it does get stored some place.

Now then When creating a new repository, you can type up a short description and it will create the needed files, read me and anything else up front. Next create issues and assign them to to the the AI when done. Brutality powerful. The biggest issues come when it tries to create files that seem to be restricted in git hub as they will never appear.

Now you can also shortcut a lot of work and create a blank repository. Now create issues for everything you can think. Be clear, and specific. The more details you include the better your results. This ONLY works if you have not yet created files but you have at least a readme, even if it is blank. If you have 100% blank repository this wont work, git hub wont create the ticket. Go to the cloud icon and tell it what you are trying to do and to pull from the notes and issues. It will read them all.
-If you have already started work here, the AI will tell you it doesn't have permission to read the issues as they haven't been assigned to it. So this only work on a new repository.
-I think I have also does this by assigning the first issue to copilot and assigning a priority to each issue. Kind of like creating directions for the process in folding paper. The AI will respect the sequence and execute each issue one at a time rather than combining.
-Though if I recall there is a limit and at least once I have seen it stop and ask for permission to continue because there was too much work to be done and it needed to create a new session.

In review process you can also inject conversation. Though when the AI is active you kinda have to fine where it's working because notes added at certain layers or without naming copilot might get overlooked or delayed.
-So far other than limits in what it can read causing errors (not hallucinations), file formats it doesn't fully understand how to create, the only big issue I have seen crop up are issues with the AI being unable to create files for the user. Which is how I came to post on this discussion and why I am a pro user, since we aren't allowed to create tickets unless we are pro. That was a lot wasted time.

[AWqxKAWERbXo]

I wish there was a keyboard shortcut to automatically assign Copilot while writing the issue.

[rileybroughten]

Thank you for this feedback, I'll bring this back to the team!

[LeieSistal]

This is awesome but I have a few feedback, I wish first of all that the Ui was responsive to mobile phone, that it was also that you mobile included this feature. I also wish copilot was able to update issue, when you do pull request would be great that it update issue at the same time. Maybe a mix of ai and proper automation?

[rileybroughten]

Mobile support is coming soon, we will provide an update when it is available for you to try!

I also wish copilot was able to update issue, when you do pull request would be great that it update issue at the same time

What information or updates would you like to be included on the issue, or would you like to see similar information that is included on the pull request?

[rflulling]

I have been using my mobile device all along and its works fine since the site loads without issue on Chrome and the work is being done on the server.

Mobile support is coming soon, we will provide an update when it is available for you to try!

[rileybroughten]

You can now assign issues to Copilot using both GraphQL and the REST API, as well as configure the target repository, base branch, custom instructions, and custom agents 🎉

Check out the changelog and the below examples to get started.

REST API examples

Add assignees to an issue

gh api \
  --method POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  /repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER/assignees \
  --input - <<< '{
    "assignees": [ "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" ],
    "agent_assignment": {"target_repo":"OWNER/REPO","base_branch":"main","custom_instructions":"","custom_agent":""}
}'

Create an issue

gh api \
  --method POST \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  /repos/OWNER/REPO/issues \
  --input - <<< '{
    "title": "Found a bug",
    "body": "I'\''m having a problem with this.",
    "assignees": [ "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" ],
    "agent_assignment": {"target_repo":"OWNER/REPO","base_branch":"main","custom_instructions":"","custom_agent":""}
}'

Update an issue

gh api \
  --method PATCH \
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
  /repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER \
  --input - <<< '{
    "assignees": [ "copilot-swe-agent[bot]" ],
    "agent_assignment": {"target_repo":"OWNER/REPO","base_branch":"main","custom_instructions":"","custom_agent":""}
}'

GraphQL API examples

Note that all requests must include this header:

GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support

updateIssue

gh api graphql -f query='mutation() {
  updateIssue(input:{
    id:$ISSUE_ID,
    assigneeIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add a cat emoji to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }}){issue{url number id}}}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

createIssue

gh api graphql -f query='mutation() {
  createIssue(input:{
    repositoryId:$REPO_ID,
    title:"Create issue and assign Copilot",
    body:"Created via gh api :tada:",
    assigneeIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add a cat emoji to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }}){issue{url number id}}}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

addAssigneesToAssignable

gh api graphql -f query='mutation Assign() {
  replaceActorsForAssignable(input:{
    assignableId:$ISSUE_ID,
    assigneeIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add an Octocat as ascii art to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }
  }) {
    assignable { ... on Issue { id number url assignees(first:10){ nodes { login id } } } }
  }
}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

replaceActorsForAssignable

gh api graphql -f query='mutation Assign() {
  replaceActorsForAssignable(input:{
    assignableId:$ISSUE_ID,
    actorIds:["BOT_kgDOC9w8XQ"],
    agentAssignment:{ baseRef: "main", customAgent: "", customInstructions: "Add an Octocat as ascii art to the readme", targetRepositoryId: $REPO_ID }
  }) {
    assignable { ... on Issue { id number url assignees(first:10){ nodes { login id } } } }
  }
}' -H 'GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support'

[owenniblock]

It needs to be called with an individual user's token with a valid Copilot license.

[TimMnz09]

Nice! It would be really helpful to have a way to assign the issue to copilot via GitHub App as well.

[timrogers]

Working on it ✨!

[bilaltola12]

@timrogers any updates? we are really excited about this feature to enable some automations. Only thing we are awaiting is the Github App token approach throught the rest api,

[ingwarsw]

Yup, that would be really cool..

Best idea would be to allow bot to assign it to Copilot as an user (so same user would not be able to approve it)

[dofaromg]

We're bringing you a range of additional options for assigning Copilot to issues as part of this public preview. When assigning an issue to Copilot coding agent, you can now choose which repository Copilot should work in, pick a starting branch, and provide additional instructions to give it more context.

CCA.issue.assign.mp4

Here’s what’s new:

• Start Copilot assignment in one click: Assign tasks directly to Copilot with the new Assign to Copilot button. This feature makes it easier and faster to start a Copilot assignment with a single click.

• Pick the target repository: Choose any repository you have access to, even if your issues and code don't live in the same place. Now you can work with Copilot across repositories, so it's easy to start assignments from issues no matter where your code is stored.

• Pick a starting branch: Choose which branch Copilot should start from. Whether you want Copilot to work off a feature branch, a bug fix branch, or any other starting point, you now have the flexibility to direct Copilot’s work to exactly where you want it.

• Add additional instructions: Give Copilot more context with optional instructions. You can provide specific guidance, requirements, or extra details to help Copilot understand exactly what you want to accomplish. This makes assignments more precise and helps Copilot deliver results that match your needs.

For more details, check out our documentation on assigning Copilot to an issue.

👇 Want to share feedback on this public preview or join the conversation? Please comment below!

Disclaimer: The UI for features in public preview is subject to change.

[Saviq]

Can this be done from a Actions workflow?

I'm getting this error:

Error: Unhandled error: HttpError: Validation Failed: {"message":"assignees copilot cannot be assigned to this issue","value":["Copilot"],"resource":"Issue","field":"assignees","code":"invalid"}

Submitting the same through gh api worked, so is this about permissions of the token used when trying to create the issue?

[owenniblock]

It could be token / permissions based. Although I would expect a slightly different error in that case. Make sure you're using a user-based fine grain token (app tokens can't assign Copilot right now).

If that's still not working, depending on how you're calling the API from your CI - if you can post the Request Id (in gh-cli you can get this with --verbose) then I can take a look at the logs and see if I can work out what's causing the error.

[rflulling]

Something I just noticed the other night. When assigning assigning an issue to Copilot.

I thought the oldest operating version was chosen by default, or that there was a place to preset the default version used over all, but apparently it's a bit more fast and loose than that. If we don't create a custom agent, we also cannot choose which agent is applied. I noticed this because while I watched the agent work I realize it was assigned a "premium Agent" (Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5), not the one I normally work with (Open AI GPT 4.1). This also being an AI that developers have claimed has tried to copy itself out of the repository in order to preserve it's own code.

• I don't normally use premium agents due to a higher operational value. So I stick with Open AI GPT 4.1, even though Google Gemini has proven itself to me as being extremely powerful. As the AI develop we will learn their qualities and quirks. There are many screw drivers and many hammers. They can all do the job but some are better for certain tasks.
• • The trouble was that although I can enable or disable agents, there is no way to set one as a default as I thought there had been. So when I assigned an issue to copilot, Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5 was being used. At this point I had not defined any version as enabled or disabled.
• I disabled all Anthropic Claude Ai variants. There was no such option for lower end AI like GPT4.1, no enable/disable. When I assigned a new issue to Copilot it then used the next highest on the list that was not disabled. Now, Open AI GPT 5.1 Codex Max (preview).
• • When Entering into Agents only Auto and Open AI GPT 5.1 Codex Max (preview) are shown as options. Even though 8 total various AI are enabled. Even now as Google Gemini 3.0 is available it is still not an option for assignment to any task.
• • Now why would any AI series be unavailable for a task unless the developers of GitHub chose to exclude these AI from the task assignment because they could not be trusted?

It's almost as if I am not being a given an option, like I am expected to do with with the most credit intensive AI. Though it doesn't explain why so many are not being shown from the get go even after being selected and made available through the user up configuration options.

Why give us options, if they can only be used in chat, and there is no other way to set a default for other operations. If the system decides for us, there is no point in offering alternatives. I don't think anything is broken, but I don't like what I am seeing. I feel I have been given far more limits than options. -Though I do credit github with the changes I have seen, across the platform.

[DaviidSantos]

I am exploring the usage of Custom Coding Agents in my Organization and I was trying to run a Coding Agent more for a PR Analysis rather than a task author. Every time I run the coding agent it creates a new draft PR for it.

Maybe I am trying to use it in a "wrong" way, but is it possible to run the coding agent without it creating draft Pull Requests?

[owenniblock]

It depends what you're trying to do - you can already ask Copilot to review a PR.

If it's something where you need to prompt the LLM - let me know some more details of your use-case and I'll see if I can forward this to the correct team.

[david-morris]

UI/UX: I need to be able to read the ticket while writing the prompt.

[owenniblock]

Thanks for the feedback @david-morris - I'll forward this to the relevant people over here.

[ausdrew]

Having a large number of custom agents overflows and doesn't display all options

[tlaukkanen]

We have enabled GitHub Coding Agent in all levels, Enterprise, Organization and Repository. I have admin rights to my repository but still after I assign my issue to Copilot it just posts this error on the issue:

The agent encountered an error and was unable to start working on this issue: The token used to assign the agent doesn't have the necessary permissions. Please make sure your token has read and write access to actions, contents, issues, and pull requests, and has permission to assign issues to the target repository. Learn more: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/use-copilot-agents/coding-agent/create-a-pr

I have tried to change all access and permission settings for days now but nothing seems to help here. Any tips how to make this work? Support's Copilot doesn't provide much help other than checking all of those permissions that I have already checked multiple times.