Asking GitHub Copilot questions in GitHub Mobile

Overview

GitHub Copilot Chat is a chat interface that lets you ask and receive answers to coding-related questions in GitHub Mobile. You can also use GitHub Copilot Chat on either GitHub or within a supported IDE. For information on using GitHub Copilot Chat in an IDE, see Asking GitHub Copilot questions in your IDE.

Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile can help you with a variety of coding-related tasks, like offering you code suggestions, providing natural language descriptions of a piece of code's functionality and purpose, generating unit tests for your code, and proposing fixes for bugs in your code. For more information, see Verantwortungsvolle Nutzung von GitHub Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile.

In GitHub Mobile, you can use Copilot Chat to ask:

• General software-related questions, without a particular context. For more information, see Asking a general question about software development.
• Questions asked in the context of your project. For more information, see Asking questions about a specific repository.
• Questions about a specific file or specified lines of code within a file. For more information, see Asking questions about specific pieces of code.

With Copilot Enterprise, you can also ask:

• Questions about a specific pull request. For more information, see Asking questions about a specific pull request.
• Questions about a specific issue. For more information, see Asking questions about a specific issue.
• Questions about a specific discussion. For more information, see Asking questions about a specific discussion.

Limitations

The following limitations apply to Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile:

• The quality of the results from Copilot Chat may, in some situations, be degraded if very large files, or a large number of files, are used as a context for a question.

Prerequisites

To use Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile, click the Copilot icon in GitHub Mobile to initiate a chat. If you don't already have an active GitHub Copilot subscription, you will automatically get subscribed to Copilot Free.

If you are part of an organization or enterprise with a GitHub Copilot Business or GitHub Copilot Enterprise subscription, the organization or enterprise owner may need to grant you access to Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile. For more information, see Verwalten von Richtlinien für Copilot in Ihrer Organisation.

Asking a general question about software development

You can ask a general question about software development that is not focused on a particular context, such as a repository.

1. In GitHub Mobile, tap the GitHub Copilot icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

   Note

   The GitHub Copilot icon is not shown on every page in GitHub Mobile. If you don't see the icon, navigate to a different page in GitHub Mobile and look for the icon there.

2. If the page displays a previous conversation you had with Copilot, tap in the top right corner of the screen, and then tap New conversation .

3. At the bottom of the page, in the "Ask Copilot" box, type a question and send the message.

   Some examples of general questions you could ask are:

   • What are the advantages of the Go programming language?
   • What is Agile software development?
   • What is the most popular JavaScript framework?
   • Give me some examples of regular expressions.
   • Write a bash script to output today's date.

4. Within a conversation thread, you can ask follow-up questions. Copilot will answer within the context of the conversation. For example, you could type "tell me more" to get Copilot to expand on its last comment.

   You can use your initial question as a foundation for follow-up questions. A detailed foundational prompt can help Copilot provide more relevant answers to your follow-up questions. For more information, see Prompting GitHub Copilot Chat to become your personal AI assistant for accessibility on the GitHub Blog.

5. Um zu einem früheren Gespräch zurückzukehren, das Sie mit Copilot geführt haben, tippen Sie auf in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms. Tippen Sie entweder auf eine der drei zuletzt geänderten Konversationen oder auf Alle Konversationen anzeigen . So gelangen Sie zu einer Liste aller Ihrer bisherigen Unterhaltungen mit Copilot.

6. Um eine Unterhaltung zu löschen, tippen Sie auf in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms und dann auf Unterhaltung löschen . Dadurch wird die Konversation aus der Liste der bisherigen Konversationen mit Copilot entfernt.

7. Um mit einer neuen Unterhaltung zu beginnen, tippen Sie auf in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms und dann auf Neue Unterhaltung .

   Sie sollten immer eine neue Unterhaltung beginnen, wenn Sie eine Frage stellen möchten, die nicht mit der aktuellen Unterhaltung verknüpft ist.

Asking exploratory questions about a repository

You can ask questions about a specific repository, to get help with understanding the code, or to get help with a specific task you're working on.

1. In GitHub Mobile, navigate to a repository, and tap the GitHub Copilot icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

2. At the bottom of the page, use the "Ask Copilot" box, type a question and send the message.

   For example, if you chose the repository you are working in as the context, you could ask:

   • What is the main purpose of this repo? What problem does it solve or what functionality does it provide?

   • What web frameworks are used in this project?

   • Where is rate limiting implemented in our API?

   • How is the code organized? Explain the project architecture.

   • Are there any specific environment requirements for working on this project?

   Important

   Copilot's ability to answer natural language questions like these in a repository context is improved when the repository has been indexed for semantic code search. Without indexing, Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile may not be able to provide the most relevant answers to your questions.

   You can't trigger the creation of a semantic code search index for a repository from GitHub Mobile. Instead you must use Copilot Chat in a web browser. See Indexing repositories for Copilot Chat.

3. Um zu einem früheren Gespräch zurückzukehren, das Sie mit Copilot geführt haben, tippen Sie auf in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms. Tippen Sie entweder auf eine der drei zuletzt geänderten Konversationen oder auf Alle Konversationen anzeigen . So gelangen Sie zu einer Liste aller Ihrer bisherigen Unterhaltungen mit Copilot.

4. Um eine Unterhaltung zu löschen, tippen Sie auf in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms und dann auf Unterhaltung löschen . Dadurch wird die Konversation aus der Liste der bisherigen Konversationen mit Copilot entfernt.

5. Um mit einer neuen Unterhaltung zu beginnen, tippen Sie auf in der oberen rechten Ecke des Bildschirms und dann auf Neue Unterhaltung .

   Sie sollten immer eine neue Unterhaltung beginnen, wenn Sie eine Frage stellen möchten, die nicht mit der aktuellen Unterhaltung verknüpft ist.

Asking questions about specific pieces of code

You can chat with Copilot about a file in your repository, or about specific lines of code within a file.

1. In GitHub Mobile, navigate to a repository and open a file.

2. Do one of the following:

   • To ask a question about the entire file, tap the Copilot icon () in the bottom right corner of the file view.
   • To ask a question about specific lines within the file, select and copy the lines you want to ask about. Then tap the Copilot icon () and paste the copied lines in the Copilot Chat input field.

3. Type a question in the "Ask Copilot" box at the bottom of the chat panel and send the message.

   For example, if you are asking about the entire file, you could enter:

   • Explain this file.
   • How could I improve this code?
   • How can I test this script?

   If you are asking about specific lines, you could enter:

   • How could I improve this class?
   • Add error handling to this code.
   • Write a unit test for this method.

   Copilot responds to your request in the panel.

4. You can continue the conversation by asking a follow-up question. For example, you could type "tell me more" to get Copilot to expand on its last comment.

Asking questions about a specific pull request

You can ask questions about a specific pull request in a repository.

1. In GitHub Mobile, navigate to a pull request in a repository, and tap the GitHub Copilot icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

2. At the bottom of the page, use the "Ask Copilot" box, type a question and send the message.

   For example, you could ask:

   • What is the purpose of this pull request?
   • What changes are being made in this pull request?
   • Are there any potential issues with this pull request?
   • What is the status of this pull request?

   Copilot responds to your request in the panel.

3. You can continue the conversation by asking a follow-up question. For example, you could type "tell me more" to get Copilot to expand on its last comment.

Asking questions about a specific issue

You can ask questions about a specific issue in a repository.

1. In GitHub Mobile, navigate to an issue in a repository, and tap the GitHub Copilot icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

2. At the bottom of the page, use the "Ask Copilot" box, type a question and send the message.

   For example, you could ask:

   • What is the purpose of this issue?
   • What is the status of this issue?
   • What are the steps to reproduce this issue?
   • Are there any potential solutions to this issue?

   Copilot responds to your request in the panel.

3. You can continue the conversation by asking a follow-up question. For example, you could type "tell me more" to get Copilot to expand on its last comment.

Asking questions about a specific discussion

You can ask questions about a specific discussion in a repository.

1. In GitHub Mobile, navigate to a discussion in a repository, and tap the GitHub Copilot icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.

2. At the bottom of the page, use the "Ask Copilot" box, type a question and send the message.

   For example, you could ask:

   • What is the purpose of this discussion?
   • What are the main points of this discussion?
   • What are the next steps for this discussion?
   • Are there any potential issues with this discussion?

   Copilot responds to your request in the panel.

3. You can continue the conversation by asking a follow-up question. For example, you could type "tell me more" to get Copilot to expand on its last comment.

Extending Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile

GitHub Copilot Extensions integrieren die Leistungsfähigkeit externer Tools in Copilot Chat, wodurch Sie den Kontextwechsel reduzieren und Antworten mit domänenspezifischem Kontext empfangen können. Sie können Copilot Extensions vom GitHub Marketplace installieren oder private Versionen innerhalb Ihrer Organisation erstellen. Geben Sie dann @ in ein Chat-Fenster ein, um eine Liste der verfügbaren Erweiterungen anzuzeigen. Um eine Erweiterung zu verwenden, wählen Sie die Erweiterung aus der Liste aus, oder geben Sie den vollständigen Schrägstrichnamen und dann Ihre Eingabeaufforderung ein.

Weitere Informationen findest du unter Verwenden von Erweiterungen zum Integrieren externer Tools in Copilot Chat.

Hiding Copilot Chat

You can hide the floating Copilot button in GitHub Mobile.

1. In the bottom menu, tap Profile.
2. To view your settings, tap .
3. Tap Copilot.
4. Next to "Hide Copilot", use the toggle to hide Copilot.

Sharing feedback about GitHub Copilot Chat in GitHub Mobile

To give feedback about a particular Copilot Chat response:

1. Tap the ellipsis (...) in the top right corner above the chat response you want to provide feedback on, and tap either Like Copilot response or Dislike Copilot response ,
2. Optionally, provide information about why you liked or disliked the response.
3. Tap Submit.