Getting code suggestions in your IDE with GitHub Copilot

About GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio Code

This guide demonstrates how to get coding suggestions from GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code. To see instructions for other popular coding environments, use the tool switcher at the top of the page.

Copilot in VS Code provides two kinds of suggestions:

• Code completions. Copilot offers coding suggestions as you type. You can also describe something you want to do using natural language within a comment, and Copilot will suggest the code to accomplish your goal.
• Next edit suggestions (public preview). Based on the edits you are making, Copilot will predict the location of the next edit you are likely to make and suggest a completion for it.

The examples in this guide use JavaScript, however other languages will work similarly. GitHub Copilot provides suggestions for numerous languages and a wide variety of frameworks, but works especially well for Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, Go, C# and C++. GitHub Copilot can also assist in query generation for databases, generating suggestions for APIs and frameworks, and can help with infrastructure as code development.

Prerequisites

• Access to Copilot. To use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, you need either an active Copilot subscription (such as Copilot Pro, Copilot Enterprise, or Copilot Business) or access through Copilot Free, which provides limited functionality. For information about how to get access to Copilot, see What is GitHub Copilot?.

• Visual Studio Code. To use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, you must have Visual Studio Code installed. For more information, see the Visual Studio Code download page.

• Copilot in Visual Studio Code. When you set up GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code for the first time, the required extensions are installed automatically. You don't need to download or install them manually. For detailed instructions, see Set up GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code in the Visual Studio Code documentation.

Getting code suggestions

GitHub Copilot offers coding suggestions as you type. For example, type this function header in a JavaScript file:

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

GitHub Copilot will automatically suggest the rest of the function. To accept the suggestion, press Tab.

You can also describe something you want to do using natural language within a comment, and Copilot will suggest the code to accomplish your goal. For example, type this comment in a JavaScript file:

// write a function to
// find all images without alternate text
// and give them a red border

// write a function to
// find all images without alternate text
// and give them a red border

GitHub Copilot will automatically suggest code. To accept the suggestion, press Tab.

Showing alternative suggestions

For any given input, GitHub Copilot may offer multiple suggestions. You can select which suggestion to use, or reject all suggestions.

For example, type this function header in a JavaScript file, and press Enter:

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

GitHub Copilot will show you a suggestion.

Now hover over the suggestion to show the GitHub Copilot control for choosing suggestions. To display next or previous suggestions, click the forward or back arrow button in the control.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts to show alternative suggestions:

To accept a suggestion, click "Accept" in the Copilot command palette, or press Tab. To reject all suggestions, press Esc.

Showing multiple suggestions in a new tab

If you don't want to use any of the initial suggestions GitHub Copilot offers, you can show multiple suggestions in a new tab.

For example, type this function header in a JavaScript file, and press Enter:

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

GitHub Copilot will show you a suggestion. Now press Ctrl+Enter to open a new tab with multiple additional options.

To accept a suggestion, below the suggestion, click Accept suggestion NUMBER. To reject all suggestions, close the tab.

Accepting partial suggestions

If you don't want to accept an entire suggestion from GitHub Copilot, you can accept the next word or the next line of a suggestion.

For example, type this function header in a JavaScript file, and press Enter:

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

function calculateDaysBetweenDates(begin, end) {

GitHub Copilot will automatically suggest an entire function body in grayed text. The exact suggestion may vary.

Now hover over the suggestion to show the GitHub Copilot control for choosing suggestions. To accept only the next word of the suggestion, click Accept Word in the control.

Alternatively, you can use a keyboard shortcut to accept the next word of a suggestion:

If you want to accept the next line of a suggestion, you will need to set a custom keyboard shortcut for the command editor.action.inlineSuggest.acceptNextLine. For more information on setting custom keyboard shortcuts, see Configuring GitHub Copilot in your environment.

About next edit suggestions

Inline suggestions autocomplete code, but many development tasks involve editing existing code. Next edit suggestions assists with edits both at the cursor and in other relevant parts of the code, helping maintain consistency and streamline changes.

Next edit suggestions predicts where and what edits may be needed based on ongoing changes. Suggestions may span a single symbol, an entire line, or multiple lines, depending on the scope of the potential change.

To enable next edit suggestions, see Configuring GitHub Copilot in your environment.

Navigating and accepting suggestions

You can navigate suggested code changes using Tab, making it easier to find the next relevant edit without manually searching through files or references. Press Tab again to accept a suggestion.

An arrow in the gutter indicates an available edit suggestion. Hover over the arrow to access the edit suggestion menu, which provides keyboard shortcuts and settings options. If an edit suggestion is outside the current editor view, the arrow will point up or down to indicate where the next suggestion is.

For more details and examples, see Code completions with GitHub Copilot in VS Code in the Visual Studio Code documentation.