GitHub Copilot for Slack and Microsoft Teams Gets Richer Context and Model Switching
GitHub CopilotGitHub Copilot's Slack and Microsoft Teams integration now pulls in more surrounding context, including Slack files, attachments, and message links, plus Teams inline images and forwarded messages, so Copilot can act on what a team already shared instead of needing everything repeated in the prompt. Developers can now switch models mid-conversation and have that choice persist for the rest of the thread, and Slack users can set a default repository and owner so Copilot does not need to ask every time. GitHub also tightened how the integration turns conversations into GitHub work, checking for similar existing issues before opening a new one and keeping a traceable link back to the source conversation. The update, in public preview for Copilot Business and Enterprise plans, also improves reliability for longer-running tasks and thread history handling.
Key Takeaways
- GitHub Copilot in Slack and Teams can now use files, attachments, message links, and forwarded messages as context, not just the text of a prompt.
- Developers can switch AI models mid-conversation, and that choice now persists for the rest of the thread instead of resetting each message.
- Slack users can set a default owner and repository, removing the need to specify a target repository on every new task.
- Copilot now checks for similar existing issues before creating a new one, cutting down on duplicate issues from parallel conversations.
- Every issue or pull request Copilot creates keeps a traceable link back to the source conversation, and vice versa.
- The update also improves reliability for longer-running tasks and Teams thread-history retention, and remains in public preview for Business and Enterprise plans.
Sources & Mentions
1 external resource covering this update
More Context From the Conversation
GitHub Copilot's Slack and Microsoft Teams integration, which lets teams mention @GitHub in a channel or thread to investigate issues and hand off coding tasks, now understands more of what is already sitting in the conversation around it. In Slack, Copilot can use supported files, attachments, and message links as context for a task. In Teams, it can work with inline images, forwarded-message context, and channel and thread history. The goal is to cut down on how much a developer needs to manually re-explain to Copilot when the relevant information, a screenshot, a linked document, an earlier message, was already shared with the team.
Switching Models Mid-Thread
Developers can now switch which AI model Copilot uses for the next message in a conversation, and that choice sticks for the rest of the thread rather than resetting on every message. Slack users also gained the ability to set a default owner and repository for their workspace, so Copilot does not need to ask which repository a request applies to every time a new task starts, a small change aimed at the repeated friction of re-specifying the same target repository across many separate conversations.
Cleaner Handoff to GitHub Work
The update also refines how Copilot turns a Slack or Teams conversation into actual GitHub work. Before opening a new issue, Copilot now checks whether a similar one already exists, reducing duplicate issues created from parallel conversations about the same problem. When Copilot does create an issue or pull request, it includes a direct link to that work and keeps a link back to the originating conversation, so anyone who lands on the resulting GitHub item can trace it back to the discussion that started it, and vice versa.
Reliability and Availability
Alongside the context and control changes, GitHub shipped several reliability improvements: better handling of longer-running tasks with clearer status updates, more reliable Teams channel-thread history retention, better handling of converted images in Teams, and fixes to Slack's implementation-plan recovery and repository-switching flows. The whole update is in public preview for GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise plans, rolling out gradually, and usage counts against a workspace's existing Copilot entitlements and cloud agent budget. Administrators must have Copilot's cloud agent policies enabled, and end users install or upgrade the GitHub app for Slack or Teams and link their GitHub account before mentioning @GitHub to get started.