GitHub Copilot in VS Code: BYOK for Business and Enterprise
GitHub CopilotVS Code 1.117 brings bring your own language model key (BYOK) to GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise subscribers, allowing teams to connect their own API keys from providers including Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Azure, and local models via Ollama and Foundry Local. BYOK models work across all VS Code Chat modes — plan agent, custom agents, ask, and edit — but not code completions. Usage is billed directly by the chosen provider and does NOT consume Copilot request quotas. The feature is enabled by default for organizations, with an opt-out policy available for administrators.
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Visual Studio Code by Microsoft - Release Notes - April 2026 Latest Updates
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BYOK Arrives for Copilot Business and Enterprise in VS Code
VS Code 1.117, released April 22, 2026, brings bring your own language model key (BYOK) to GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise subscribers — a long-requested feature that allows organizations to connect existing AI provider API keys directly to the VS Code Copilot experience.
What BYOK Enables
With BYOK configured, teams can route Copilot Chat requests in VS Code to models from any of the following providers using their own API credentials:
- Anthropic (Claude models)
- OpenAI (GPT models)
- Google Gemini
- Azure AI Foundry
- OpenRouter (aggregated access to hundreds of models from multiple providers)
- Local models via Ollama and Foundry Local (enabling fully offline, air-gapped workflows)
Once configured, BYOK models appear alongside the standard Copilot model picker and are accessible everywhere in VS Code Chat — including plan agent sessions, custom agents, ask mode, and edit mode.
What BYOK Does Not Cover
BYOK models are not available for code completions — the inline suggestion experience that fires as a developer types. BYOK applies exclusively to the chat and agent surfaces in VS Code.
Billing and Quota
Usage through BYOK keys is billed directly by the chosen provider and does not count against the organization's GitHub Copilot request quotas. This is particularly valuable for teams with existing enterprise AI contracts — they can leverage compute they have already committed to without double-billing. BYOK requests are also not subject to Copilot's model-level rate limits or request multipliers.
Availability and Admin Control
The BYOK policy is enabled by default for all Copilot Business and Enterprise organizations — developers can start configuring their own keys without administrator intervention. Organizations that want to restrict usage can disable the "Bring Your Own Language Model Key in VS Code" policy in Copilot settings on github.com. Users can add models from built-in providers or install language model provider extensions from the VS Code marketplace.