GitHub Copilot: Beginner

Beginner

GitHub Copilot is GitHub and Microsoft’s AI coding assistant. It lives inside your editor (VS Code is its main home) and you’ll meet it in two places first: inline completions as you type, and Copilot Chat for questions and edits in plain English. This guide gets you installed and productive.

What you need

• VS Code installed
• A GitHub account
• A Copilot plan on that account: Free, Pro, Pro+, or a seat from a Business/Enterprise org

Note

Since 1 June 2026 Copilot bills on usage-based AI Credits (1 credit = USD 0.01, metered by token consumption). Inline completions and Next Edit suggestions stay free; chat, edits, and agent features draw from a monthly credit allowance that depends on your plan. Allowances and plan names shift, so verify current numbers on GitHub’s Copilot plans page before you budget.

Install

1. Open VS Code and go to the Extensions view (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+X).

2. Search for GitHub Copilot and install it. Recent VS Code builds may already include it.

3. Sign in with your GitHub account when prompted.

4. Confirm the account has an active Copilot plan.

Tip

Open a real project folder before you start. Copilot reads the files in your workspace to make better suggestions. This is the context window in action.

Inline completions

As you type, Copilot suggests code as grayed-out “ghost text”.

Key	What it does
Tab	Accept the suggestion
Esc	Dismiss it

Copilot also offers Next Edit suggestions: after you make a change, it can predict the next edit it expects and point you to it.

Caution

Suggestions are guesses based on patterns, not guarantees. They can be wrong, outdated, or insecure. Read every line before you accept it: you own the code that ends up in your repo. See Verification.

Copilot Chat

Open the Chat view to ask questions in plain English.

macOS

Press ⌃⌘I

Windows / Linux

Press Ctrl+Alt+I

Select the code you want Copilot to focus on, then ask. A few good first prompts:

Explain what this file does.

Why might this function return undefined?

Add error handling to the selected code.

Copilot answers in the panel and can hand you code to apply with a click.

Three habits that make it work

1. Be specific. “Fix this” is weak. “This loop skips the last item, fix it” gives Copilot something to work with.
2. Verify before you trust. Treat every suggestion as a draft to review, not an answer to accept blindly.
3. One task per chat. Start a fresh conversation when you switch topics. A focused thread gives better answers.

You’re done when…

• ✅ Copilot is installed and signed in in VS Code
• ✅ You’ve accepted an inline completion with Tab
• ✅ You’ve asked Copilot Chat a question about your own code

Next step

New to how these tools think? Skim the Foundations first: they explain why context matters more than clever prompts.

Foundations: How AI tools work Why context matters more than clever prompts.

GitHub Copilot: Intermediate Scope context precisely, edit across files, and set repo-wide rules.