GitHub Copilot in VS Code: Create and Manage Cloud Automations

Copilot Automations come to VS Code

GitHub added the ability to create and manage Copilot Automations directly inside Visual Studio Code. According to GitHub, an automation combines prompts, triggers and tools so developers can design workflows around the way they work. With this update, those cloud automations are managed from the Agents window in VS Code rather than only from GitHub itself.

Automations appear in a dedicated Automations tab in the Agents window. To get started, GitHub says to update to Visual Studio Code 1.144 and use the chat.automations.cloud.enabled setting. Copilot Automations is available with Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business and Enterprise plans.

Three things developers can do

Scheduled personal automations that outlive the editor

The most notable change for individual developers is that personal scheduled automations can run even when Visual Studio Code is closed. According to the VS Code release notes, the automation runs in the cloud on GitHub infrastructure, so the schedule is not tied to a running editor window or an open laptop. Local automations behave differently, and VS Code's documentation advises against assuming that local automations continue after the application is quit.

Personal automations that react to GitHub events

Developers can also set up personal automations that run in response to events on GitHub. GitHub's examples include an issue being assigned to the developer or a pull request being opened. This lets a developer hand repetitive follow-up work, such as triaging newly assigned issues, to an automation instead of doing it by hand.

Shared team workflows in the cloud

Teams can build shared workflows in the cloud. According to the VS Code documentation, a shared automation is owned by a repository and runs as Copilot. Anyone with read access to the repository can see its definition, and anyone with write access can edit and run it.

Creating an automation

The VS Code documentation describes two ways to create a cloud automation: ask an agent to set one up, or use the Create Automation button in the Automations view of the Agents window. Cloud automations are labeled as a preview in the VS Code 1.144 release notes.

Tool permissions

The VS Code documentation states that no tools are selected by default for a cloud automation, so developers choose only the tools the task needs. The documentation also advises against putting secrets in automation prompts, because cloud automations do not use the local working tree.

Why it matters

GitHub already offered Copilot Automations with triggers, shared workflows and cost controls. The new part is the editor surface: developers who work in VS Code can now define, schedule and manage those automations without leaving the Agents window, and personal schedules no longer depend on the editor staying open.