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GitHub Copilot in Slack and Teams: Work Across Multiple Repositories in One Conversation

GitHub CopilotView original changelog

GitHub added multi-repository support to GitHub Copilot in Slack and Microsoft Teams, so a single conversation can now span several repositories. GitHub also made conversations more natural by letting users mention @GitHub anywhere in a message, and Copilot can now use shared Slack messages and threads as context. Reliability improved, with fewer errors, faster task startup and better recovery from interruptions.

Key Takeaways

  • Multi-repository support lets one Slack or Teams conversation span several repositories, ending the one-repo-at-a-time limit.
  • Cross-repo requests such as listing open pull requests that need attention or summarizing a week of merged work now work in chat.
  • Users can mention @GitHub anywhere in a message, so requests read like normal sentences.
  • In Slack, Copilot can use shared messages and threads as context, which cuts down on re-explaining background.
  • Switching repositories mid-conversation is easier, which suits investigations that cross frontend and backend code.
  • GitHub reports fewer errors, faster task startup and better recovery from interruptions, which makes chat-driven work more dependable.

Multi-Repository Conversations

GitHub Copilot in Slack and Microsoft Teams previously worked against one repository at a time. GitHub now lets Copilot work across multiple repositories within a single conversation. That makes chat a practical place for questions that cut across a codebase, instead of a tool that needs to be pointed at one project each time.

GitHub gave several example requests: listing your open pull requests across repositories and flagging the ones that need attention, finding the pull requests merged during the week, investigating an issue that spans frontend and backend repositories, and summarizing recent activity across repositories. These are the kinds of cross-project questions that normally mean opening several tabs and stitching the answers together by hand.

More Natural Conversations

GitHub changed how Copilot is invoked in chat. Users can now mention @GitHub anywhere in a message, not only at the very start. A request can be written the way a person would normally type it, with the mention dropped in where it fits.

Moving between repositories mid-conversation is also smoother, which matters now that a conversation can cover more than one project.

Better Slack Context and Reliability

In Slack, Copilot can now use shared Slack messages and threads as context. A discussion that already contains the background for a bug or a task no longer has to be re-explained to Copilot.

GitHub also reported reliability improvements: fewer errors, faster task startup, and better recovery when a task is interrupted.