GitHub Copilot Web: Ask Questions Without Leaving Your Page
GitHub CopilotGitHub has made contextual Copilot chat generally available across all plans on github.com. Rather than navigating away to a separate Copilot chat page, users can now open a side panel by clicking the Copilot icon in the top navigation bar, keeping their current repository, pull request, or issue in view. The panel automatically attaches the current GitHub resource as context, and continues accumulating context as users navigate across multiple pages — enabling multi-resource conversations without manual copy-pasting.
Sources & Mentions
2 external resources covering this update
Copilot Chat Without the Context Switch
Until now, accessing GitHub Copilot chat on the web meant navigating to a dedicated github.com/copilot page — effectively leaving whatever you were working on. GitHub changed that on May 18, 2026, making a contextual chat panel generally available to all Copilot subscribers.
Clicking the Copilot icon in the top navigation bar now opens a side panel on the current GitHub page rather than redirecting. Developers browsing a repository, reviewing a pull request, or triaging an issue can ask Copilot questions without losing their place.
Automatic Context Accumulation
The panel's most notable behavior is its automatic context attachment. When the panel opens on a pull request page, it attaches that pull request as context. When the user then navigates to a related issue, that issue is added to the conversation. The accumulated context grows naturally as the developer moves through GitHub surfaces, supporting questions that span multiple resources — "given this PR and this issue, what's the right approach?" — without manual setup.
The full immersive chat experience at github.com/copilot remains accessible through the More menu for users who prefer it.
Agent Escalation
The panel is not limited to Q&A. Users can escalate conversations into full agent sessions directly from the panel, enabling actions like creating pull requests or conducting codebase research without leaving the chat. This positions the contextual panel as both an entry point for lightweight questions and a launch pad for more involved agent-driven workflows.
Availability
The feature is generally available across all GitHub Copilot subscription tiers as of May 18, 2026.