Using GitHub Copilot Chat in your IDE

Prerequisites

• Access to GitHub Copilot. See "About GitHub Copilot."
• Latest version of Visual Studio Code. See the Visual Studio Code download page.
• GitHub Copilot Chat extension. This is automatically installed when you install the GitHub Copilot extension. See the GitHub Copilot extension in the Visual Studio Marketplace.
• Sign in to GitHub in Visual Studio Code. If you experience authentication issues, see "Troubleshooting issues with GitHub Copilot Chat in IDEs."

If you have access to GitHub Copilot via your organization or enterprise, you cannot use GitHub Copilot Chat if your organization owner or enterprise administrator has disabled GitHub Copilot Chat. See "Managing policies and features for Copilot in your organization."

Submitting prompts

You can ask Copilot Chat to give code suggestions, explain code, generate unit tests, and suggest code fixes.

1. Open the chat view by clicking the chat icon in the activity bar or by entering Control+Command+i (Mac) / Ctrl+Alt+i (Windows/Linux).

   

   Tip

   For additional ways to access Copilot Chat, including inline with your code, see Additional ways to access Copilot Chat below.

2. Enter a prompt in the prompt box, or click one of the suggested prompts. For example prompts, see "Example prompts" below.

3. Evaluate Copilot's response, and make a follow up request if needed.

   The response may contain text, code blocks, buttons, images, URIs, and file trees. The response often includes interactive elements. For example, the response may include a menu to insert a code block, or a button to invoke a Visual Studio Code command.

Using keywords in your prompt

You can use special keywords to help Copilot understand your prompt.

Chat participants

Use chat participants to scope your prompt to a specific domain. To use a chat participant, type @ in the chat prompt box, followed by a chat participant name. Chat participants include:

• @workspace: Has context about the code in your workspace. Use @workspace when you want Copilot to consider the structure of your project, how different parts of your code interact, or design patterns in your project.
• @vscode: Has context about Visual Studio Code commands and features. Use @vscode when you want help with Visual Studio Code.
• @terminal: Has context about the Visual Studio Code terminal shell and its contents. Use @terminal when you want help creating or debugging terminal commands.

To see all available chat participants, type @ in the chat prompt box. See also Chat participants in the Visual Studio Code documentation.

Slash commands

Use slash commands to avoid writing complex prompts for common scenarios. To use a slash command, type / in the chat prompt box, followed by a command. Slash commands include:

• /tests: Generate unit tests for the selected code
• /fix: Propose a fix for problems in the selected code
• /explain: Explain the selected code
• /clear: Start a new chat

To see all available slash commands, type / in the chat prompt box. See also Slash commands in the Visual Studio Code documentation.

Chat variables

Use chat variables to include specific context in your prompt. To use a chat variable, type # in the chat prompt box, followed by a chat variable. Chat variables include:

• #file: Include a specific file as context in the chat.
• #git: Include information about the current Git repository.
• #terminalLastCommand: Include the last run command in the active Visual Studio Code terminal.

To see all available chat variables, type # in the chat prompt box. See also Chat variables in the Visual Studio Code documentation.

Example prompts

You can ask Copilot Chat specific questions about your project or general software questions. You can also ask Copilot Chat to write code, fix errors, write tests, and document code.

Ask general software questions

You can ask Copilot Chat general software questions. For example:

• tell me about nodejs web server frameworks
• how to create an express app
• @terminal how to update an npm package (uses the @terminal chat participant)

Ask questions about your project

You can ask Copilot Chat questions about your project.

• what sorting algorithm does this function use
• @workspace how are notifications scheduled
• #file:gameReducer.js #file:gameInit.js how are these files related

To give Copilot the correct context, try some of these strategies:

• Highlight relevant lines of code
• Use chat variables like #selection, #file, #editor, #codebase, or #git
• Use the @workspace chat participant

Write code

You can ask Copilot to write code for you. For example:

• write a function to sum all numbers in a list
• add error handling to this function
• @workspace add form validation, similar to the newsletter page

When Copilot returns a code block, the response includes options to copy the code, or to insert the code at your cursor, into a new file, or into the terminal.

Set up a new project

Use the /new slash command to set up a new project. For example:

• /new react app with typescript
• /new python django web application
• /new node.js express server

Copilot will suggest a directory structure and provide a button to create the suggested files and contents. To preview a suggested file, select the file name in the suggested directory structure.

Use the /newNotebook slash command to set up a new Jupyter notebook. For example:

• /newNotebook retrieve the titanic dataset and use Seaborn to plot the data

Fix, improve, and refactor code

If your active file contains an error, use the /fix slash command to ask Copilot to fix the error.

You can also make general requests to improve or refactor your code.

• how would you improve this code?
• translate this code to C#
• add error handling to this function

Write tests

Use the /tests slash command to ask Copilot to write tests for the active file or selected code. For example:

• /tests
• /tests using the Jest framework
• /tests ensure the function rejects an empty list

The /tests slash command writes tests for existing code. If you prefer to write tests before writing code (test driven development), omit the /tests command. For example:

• Add tests for a JavaScript function that should sum a list of integers

Ask questions about Visual Studio Code

Use the @vscode chat participant to ask specific questions about Visual Studio Code. For example:

• @vscode how to debug a node.js app
• @vscode how do I change my Visual Studio Code colors
• @vscode how to change key bindings

Ask questions about the command line

Use the @terminal chat participant to ask specific questions about the command line. For example:

• @terminal find the largest file in the src directory
• @terminal #terminalLastCommand to explain the last command and any errors

Additional ways to access Copilot Chat

In addition to submitting prompts through the chat view, you can submit prompts in other ways:

• Inline: To start an inline chat directly in the editor or integrated terminal, enter Command+i (Mac) / Ctrl+i (Windows/Linux).
• Quick chat: To open the quick chat dropdown, enter Shift+Command+i (Mac) / Shift+Ctrl+i (Windows/Linux)
• Smart actions: To submit prompts via the context menu, right click in your editor, select Copilot in the menu that appears, then select one of the actions. Smart actions can also be accessed via the sparkle icon that sometimes appears when you select a line of code.

See inline chat, quick chat, and chat smart actions in the Visual Studio Code documentation for more details.

Sharing feedback

To indicate whether a response was helpful, use the thumbs up and thumbs down icons that appear next to the response.

To leave feedback about the GitHub Copilot Chat extension, open an issue in the microsoft/vscode-copilot-release repository.

Further reading

• Using Copilot Chat in VS Code and Getting started with GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code in the Visual Studio Code documentation

• "About GitHub Copilot Chat in your IDE"

• "GitHub Terms for Additional Products and Features"

• GitHub Copilot FAQ