GitHub Copilot App: Opt-In Guidance for Which Tool Requests to Approve Automatically
GitHub CopilotGitHub added opt-in approval guidance to the GitHub Copilot app, letting users tell Copilot which tool requests it may approve without asking. The guidance applies to local sessions. It appears in the November 2 weekly releases roundup.
Key Takeaways
- Copilot can now approve some tool requests without asking, based on guidance the user provides.
- The guidance is opt-in, so existing approval behavior is unchanged for users who do not enable it.
- It applies to local sessions in the GitHub Copilot app.
- GitHub shipped it in the November 2 weekly releases roundup, published November 6, 2026.
What Changed
The GitHub Copilot app now lets users give Copilot opt-in guidance about which tool requests it can approve on its own, without stopping to ask each time. GitHub listed the change under the Approvals heading of the GitHub Copilot weekly releases for November 2, published on November 6, 2026.
How It Works
The guidance is opt-in. Users who want Copilot to ask about every tool request can leave it off. Users who are comfortable letting Copilot approve certain kinds of requests can state that guidance, and Copilot then follows it instead of prompting.
Where It Applies
The guidance applies to local sessions in the GitHub Copilot app, meaning sessions that run on the user's own machine. GitHub's note does not say it covers cloud sessions.