Grok 4.6 Now Available in GitHub Copilot
GitHub CopilotGitHub Copilot has added xAI's Grok 4.6 as a selectable model across eight surfaces, including VS Code, Visual Studio, Copilot CLI, the Copilot cloud agent, the Copilot app, JetBrains, Xcode, and Eclipse. This is a third-party model integration (Grok is built by xAI, not GitHub) tuned for agentic coding and long-horizon, multi-step reasoning tasks. It is available on Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise plans, billed at usage-based provider list pricing, though Business and Enterprise admins must explicitly enable it since the policy is off by default.
Key Takeaways
- Grok 4.6 is a third-party integration, not a GitHub-built model — it comes from xAI, joining Copilot's growing multi-vendor model picker.
- The model is tuned for agentic, long-horizon coding, with GitHub citing strong internal results on sustained, multi-step reasoning and tool-use tasks.
- Availability spans eight surfaces at once, including VS Code, Visual Studio, Copilot CLI, the cloud agent, the Copilot app, JetBrains, Xcode, and Eclipse.
- Access is tied to paid tiers only — Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise — with no mention of free-tier availability.
- On Business and Enterprise plans the model is off by default, requiring an administrator to explicitly enable the Grok 4.6 policy before it appears for users.
- Pricing follows usage-based, provider list rates, reported around $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, undercutting some rival frontier models.
Sources & Mentions
3 external resources covering this update
xAI's Grok 4.6 Joins the Copilot Model Lineup
GitHub Copilot has rolled out support for Grok 4.6, xAI's newest reasoning model, expanding the roster of third-party models developers can select directly from Copilot's model picker. Unlike GitHub's own in-house models, Grok 4.6 is built and maintained by xAI, making this an integration of an external model rather than a first-party release — the same pattern GitHub used for earlier Grok versions and other partner models.
Built for Agentic, Long-Horizon Coding
According to GitHub, Grok 4.6 was "designed for agentic coding and complex multi-step workflows." In GitHub's internal testing, the model showed particularly strong results on terminal-based coding tasks inside Visual Studio Code and Copilot CLI, and it performed especially well on longer-horizon tasks that require sustained reasoning and repeated tool use — the kind of extended, multi-step sessions increasingly common in agentic coding workflows rather than single-shot completions.
Where It's Available
Grok 4.6 is rolling out gradually across eight Copilot surfaces: Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, Copilot CLI, the GitHub Copilot cloud agent, the GitHub Copilot app, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, and Eclipse. It is available to developers on Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise subscriptions. Because the rollout is staged, some developers may not see the model in their picker immediately and should check back as availability expands.
Pricing and Admin Controls
Grok 4.6 is billed using usage-based billing at provider list pricing — reported elsewhere at roughly $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, positioning it as a comparatively low-cost option relative to some competing frontier models. For organizations on Copilot Business and Enterprise plans, the model is off by default: administrators must explicitly enable the Grok 4.6 policy in Copilot settings before members of their organization can select it.
Why It Matters
The addition continues GitHub Copilot's strategy of offering a growing menu of frontier models from multiple vendors — alongside models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft's own MAI series — rather than committing to a single provider. For teams already using Grok models elsewhere, or those wanting a lower-cost option tuned for extended agentic sessions, Grok 4.6 gives Copilot users another choice without leaving their existing IDE or CLI workflow.