GitHub Copilot in VS Code settings reference
This article lists the configuration settings for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code. For general information about working with settings in VS Code, refer to User and workspace settings.
The team is continuously working on improving Copilot in VS Code and adding new features. Some features are still experimental. Try them out and share your feedback in our issues. Get more info about the feature lifecycle in VS Code.
Tip
If you don't yet have a Copilot subscription, you can use Copilot for free by signing up for the Copilot Free plan and get a monthly limit of inline suggestions and chat interactions.
General settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
chat.commandCenter.enabled Controls whether to show the Chat menu in the VS Code title bar. |
true |
workbench.settings.showAISearchToggle Enable searching settings with AI in the Settings editor. |
true |
workbench.commandPalette.experimental.askChatLocation (Experimental)Controls where the Command Palette should ask chat questions. |
"chatView" |
search.searchView.semanticSearchBehavior (Preview)Configure when to run semantic search in the Search view: manually (default), when no text search results are found, or always. |
"manual" |
search.searchView.keywordSuggestions (Preview)Controls whether to show keyword suggestions in the Search view. |
false |
Code editing settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
github.copilot.editor.enableCodeActions Controls if Copilot commands are shown as Code Actions when available. |
true |
github.copilot.renameSuggestions.triggerAutomatically Generate symbol renaming suggestions. |
true |
github.copilot.enable Enable or disable inline suggestions for specified languages. |
{ "*": true, "plaintext": false, "markdown": false, "scminput": false } |
github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled Enables next edit suggestions (NES). |
true |
editor.inlineSuggest.edits.allowCodeShifting Configure if NES is able to shift your code to show a suggestion. |
"always" |
editor.inlineSuggest.edits.renderSideBySide Configure if NES can show larger suggestions side-by-side if possible, or if Copilot NES should always show larger suggestions below the relevant code. |
"auto" |
github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.fixes Enable next edit suggestions based on diagnostics (squiggles). For example, missing imports. |
true |
editor.inlineSuggest.minShowDelay Time in milliseconds to wait before showing inline suggestions. |
0 |
Chat settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
github.copilot.chat.localeOverride Specify a locale for chat responses, such as en or fr. |
"auto" |
github.copilot.chat.useProjectTemplates Use relevant GitHub projects as starter projects when using /new. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.scopeSelection Whether to prompt for a specific symbol scope if you use /explain and the active editor has no selection. |
false |
github.copilot.chat.terminalChatLocation Controls where chat queries from the terminal should be opened. |
"chatView" |
chat.detectParticipant.enabled Enable chat participant detection in the Chat view. |
true |
chat.checkpoints.enabled Enable or disable checkpoints in the chat. |
true |
chat.checkpoints.showFileChanges Show a summary of file changes at the end of each chat request. |
false |
chat.editRequests Enable or disable editing previous chat requests. |
"inline" |
chat.editor.fontFamily Font family in chat codeblocks. |
"default" |
chat.editor.fontSize Font size in pixels in chat codeblocks. |
14 |
chat.editor.fontWeight Font weight in chat codeblocks. |
"default" |
chat.editor.lineHeight Line height in pixels in chat codeblocks. |
0 |
chat.editor.wordWrap Toggle line wrapping in chat codeblocks. |
"off" |
chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRemoval Ask for confirmation before undoing an edit. |
true |
chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRetry Ask for confirmation before performing a redo of the last edit. |
true |
chat.editing.autoAcceptDelay Configure a delay after which suggested edits are automatically accepted, use zero to disable auto-accept. |
0 |
chat.fontFamily Font family for Markdown content in chat. |
"default" |
chat.fontSize Font size in pixels for Markdown content in chat. |
13 |
chat.notifyWindowOnConfirmation Enable or disable showing an OS notification window when user input is needed. |
true |
chat.notifyWindowOnResponseReceived Enable or disable showing an OS notification window when a chat response is received. |
true |
chat.tools.terminal.autoReplyToPrompts Automatically reply to terminal prompts with a default answer. |
false |
chat.tools.terminal.terminalProfile.<platform> Configure which terminal profile to use for chat terminal commands on each platform. |
"" |
chat.useAgentsMdFile Enable or disable using AGENTS.md files as context for chat requests. |
true |
chat.math.enabled (Preview)Enable or disable math rendering with KaTeX in chat. |
false |
chat.viewTitle.enabled (Preview)Show the title of the current chat session in the chat header. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled (Preview)When using #codebase in the prompt, Copilot automatically discovers relevant files to be edited. |
false |
chat.emptyState.history.enabled (Experimental)Show recent chat history in the empty state of the Chat view. |
false |
chat.sendElementsToChat.enabled (Experimental)Enable sending elements from the Simple Browser to the chat view as context. |
true |
chat.useNestedAgentsMdFiles (Experimental)Enable or disable using AGENTS.md files in subfolders of your workspace as context for chat requests. |
false |
github.copilot.chat.customOAIModels (Experimental)Configure custom OpenAI-compatible models for chat. |
[] |
github.copilot.chat.edits.suggestRelatedFilesFromGitHistory (Experimental)Suggest related files from git history in chat context. |
true |
Agent settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
chat.agent.enabled ORGEnable or disable using agents (requires VS Code 1.99 or later). |
true |
chat.agent.maxRequests Maximum number of requests that Copilot can make using agents. |
25 |
github.copilot.chat.agent.autoFix Automatically diagnose and fix issues in the generated code changes. |
true |
chat.mcp.access ORGManage which Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers can be used in VS Code. |
true |
chat.mcp.discovery.enabled Configure automatic discovery of MCP server configuration from other applications. |
false |
chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove Control which terminal commands are auto-approved when using agents. Commands can be set to true (auto-approve) or false (require approval). Regular expressions can be used by wrapping patterns in / characters. |
{ "rm": false, "rmdir": false, "del": false, "kill": false, "curl": false, "wget": false, "eval": false, "chmod": false, "chown": false, "/^Remove-Item\\b/i": false } |
chat.tools.terminal.enableAutoApprove ORG Enable or disable automatic approval of terminal commands. |
true |
chat.tools.terminal.ignoreDefaultAutoApproveRules Ignore the default auto-approve rules for terminal commands. |
false |
chat.tools.global.autoApprove ORGAutomatically approve all tools - this setting disables critical security protections. |
false |
chat.tools.urls.autoApprove Control which URL requests and responses are auto-approved. |
[] |
chat.agent.thinking.collapsedTools (Experimental)Configure whether tool call details are collapsed or expanded by default in the chat conversation. |
always |
chat.agent.thinkingStyle (Experimental)Configure how thinking tokens are presented in chat. |
fixedScrolling |
chat.customAgentInSubagent.enabled (Experimental)Enable using a custom agent with subagents. |
false |
chat.mcp.autoStart (Experimental)Automatically start MCP servers when MCP configuration changes are detected. |
newAndOutdated |
chat.tools.eligibleForAutoApproval ORG (Experimental)Configure which tools require manual approval before they can be used by agents. |
[] |
chat.tools.terminal.blockDetectedFileWrites (Experimental)Require user approval for terminal commands that perform file writes. |
outsideWorkspace |
chat.useAgentSkills (Experimental)Enable support for agent skills in VS Code. |
false |
github.copilot.chat.newWorkspaceCreation.enabled (Experimental)Enable the tool for scaffolding a new workspace in chat. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.agent.thinkingTool (Experimental)Enable the thinking tool when using agents. |
false |
github.copilot.chat.cli.customAgents.enabled (Experimental)Enable using custom agents from GitHub background agent sessions. |
false |
github.copilot.chat.summarizeAgentConversationHistory.enabled (Experimental)Automatically summarize the agent conversation history when the context window is full. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold (Experimental)Tool count over which virtual tools should be used. Virtual tools group similar sets of tools together and enable the model to activate them on-demand. Enables you to go beyond the limit of 128 tools for a chat request. |
128 |
Agent sessions
The Agents view provides a centralized location for managing both local chat conversations and remote coding agent sessions. This view enables you to work with multiple AI sessions simultaneously, track their progress, and manage long-running tasks efficiently.
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
chat.viewSessions.orientation Configure how the agent sessions list is shown in the Chat view. |
auto |
chat.viewSessions.enabled Show the agent sessions list in the Chat view. |
true |
Inline chat settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
inlineChat.finishOnType Finish an editor inline chat session when typing outside of changed regions. |
false |
inlineChat.holdToSpeech Holding the editor inline chat keyboard shortcut (⌘I (Windows, Linux Ctrl+I)) automatically enables speech recognition. |
true |
editor.inlineSuggest.syntaxHighlightingEnabled Show syntax highlighting for inline suggestions. |
true |
inlineChat.lineEmptyHint (Experimental)Show a hint for editor inline chat on an empty line. |
false |
inlineChat.lineNaturalLanguageHint (Experimental)Trigger editor inline chat as soon as a line mostly consists of words. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.editor.temporalContext.enabled (Experimental)Include recently viewed and edited files in the context for editor inline chat. |
false |
Code review settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.enabled ORG (Preview)Enable code review with AI for an editor text selection. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.instructions (Preview)Custom instructions that are added to requests for reviewing the current editor selection with AI. |
[] |
Custom instructions settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
chat.instructionsFilesLocations Locations to search for custom instructions files. Relative paths are resolved from the root folder(s) of your workspace. Supports glob patterns for file paths. |
{ ".github/instructions": true } |
github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useInstructionFiles Automatically add custom instructions from .github/copilot-instructions.md to chat requests. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions (Experimental)Custom instructions for generating commit messages with AI. |
[] |
github.copilot.chat.pullRequestDescriptionGeneration.instructions (Experimental)Custom instructions for generating pull request titles and descriptions with AI. |
[] |
Reusable prompt files settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
chat.promptFilesLocations Locations to search for prompt files. Relative paths are resolved from the root folder(s) of your workspace. Supports glob patterns for file paths. |
{ ".github/prompts": true } |
chat.promptFilesRecommendations Enable or disable prompt file recommendations when opening a new chat session. List of key-value pairs of prompt file name and boolean or when clause. |
[] |
Debugging settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled (Preview)Enables the experimental /startDebugging intent in the Chat view to generate debugging configuration. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled (Preview)Enables the copilot-debug terminal command. |
true |
Testing settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
github.copilot.chat.generateTests.codeLens (Experimental)Show Generate tests code lens for symbols that are not covered by current test coverage information. |
false |
github.copilot.chat.setupTests.enabled (Experimental)Enables the experimental /setupTests intent and prompting in /tests generation. |
true |
Notebook settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
notebook.experimental.generate (Experimental)Enable the Generate action to create code cells with notebook inline chat. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.edits.newNotebook.enabled (Experimental)Enable the notebook tool in edit mode to create a new notebook file. |
true |
github.copilot.chat.notebook.followCellExecution.enabled (Experimental)Show the currently executing cell in the editor. |
false |
Accessibility settings
| Setting and Description | Default |
|---|---|
inlineChat.accessibleDiffView Whether the Inline Chat also renders an accessible diff viewer for its changes. |
"auto" |
accessibility.signals.chatRequestSent Plays a signal - sound (audio cue) and/or announcement (alert) - when a chat request is made. |
{ "sound": "auto", "announcement": "auto" } |
accessibility.signals.chatResponseReceived Plays a sound / audio cue when the response has been received. |
{ "sound": "auto" } |
accessibility.signals.chatEditModifiedFile Plays a sound / audio cue when the file has been modified by chat edits. |
{ "sound": "auto" } |
accessibility.signals.chatUserActionRequired Plays a sound / audio cue when the user needs to take an action in chat. |
{ "sound": "auto", "announcement": "auto" } |
accessibility.signals.lineHasInlineSuggestion Plays a sound / audio cue when the cursor is on a line that has an inline suggestion. |
{ "sound": "auto" } |
accessibility.signals.nextEditSuggestion Plays a sound / audio cue when a next edit suggestion is available. |
{ "sound": "auto", "announcement": "auto" } |
accessibility.verboseChatProgressUpdates Provide verbose updates about chat activity. |
true |
accessibility.verbosity.inlineChat Provide information about how to access the inline editor chat accessibility help menu and alert with hints that describe how to use the feature when the input is focused. |
true |
accessibility.verbosity.inlineCompletions Provide information about how to access the inline suggestions hover and Accessible View. |
true |
accessibility.verbosity.panelChat Provide information about how to access the chat help menu when the chat input is focused. |
true |
accessibility.voice.keywordActivation Controls whether the keyword phrase 'Hey Code' is recognized to start a voice chat session. |
"off" |
accessibility.voice.autoSynthesize Controls whether a textual response should automatically be read out aloud when speech was used as input. |
"off" |
accessibility.voice.speechTimeout The duration in milliseconds that voice speech recognition remains active after you stop speaking. |
1200 |