Copilot’s hidden helpers: beyond code completion

GitHub Copilot is best known for suggesting code in the editor, but the assistant also plugs into many other parts of the developer workflow. From triaging issues to drafting release notes, these ten features show where Copilot can step in beyond plain code generation.

Terminal guidance, both in and out of the IDE

Two separate Copilot features target the command line. In VS Code, the @terminal agent in Copilot Chat understands your integrated shell environment. Ask it how to run a particular command, and once it responds you can click “Insert into Terminal” to execute the suggestion directly.

Outside the editor, GitHub Copilot in the CLI extends GitHub CLI with help for shell commands, Git commands, and gh cli commands. It’s useful for recalling a flag, learning a new command, or decoding something you found in a forum post.

Commit messages and PR summaries

Writing commit messages is easy to put off, but the IDE can now draft them. In VS Code, open the Source Control panel and click the sparkle icon in the message input box to auto-generate a commit message. The same feature is available in Visual Studio.

For larger changes, Copilot is integrated into pull requests on GitHub.com. It can produce a detailed PR summary that includes links to the changed files. You review and edit the generated text before submitting. This feature requires a Copilot Enterprise plan, which in turn requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud.

Repository Q&A on GitHub.com

On GitHub.com, Copilot Chat can explain a repository you’re unfamiliar with. Open any repo and click the Copilot icon in the top-right corner to ask about the project, specific files, or particular lines of code. You can also ask general software-related questions. Like PR summaries, this is an Enterprise-only capability.

Quick fixes for problematic code

When a small fix is needed in the file you’re editing, highlight the problematic code, right-click, and choose “Fix using Copilot.” Copilot supplies a suggested correction inline, which is handy for those minor issues that don’t warrant a full debugging session.

Terminal error explanations

Confusing error messages in the terminal can be investigated without leaving the IDE. Highlight the message, right-click, and select “Explain with Copilot.” Copilot returns a description of the error along with a potential fix. You can also paste browser console errors into Copilot Chat and use the /explain slash command to get the same treatment.

Automating issue cleanup

In one case, a repository accumulated more than 1,600 invalid GitHub Issues that needed to be closed. Copilot Chat helped build a custom GitHub Action to automate the cleanup. The assistant also helped implement the closeIssue() function using Octokit to fetch the issues requiring closure. The bulk run reduced the open-issue count to 64 in minutes.

Generating documentation

Copilot can draft code comments in language-appropriate formats: Docstring for Python, JSDoc for JavaScript, and Javadoc for Java. This applies regardless of the programming language in use.

Debugging CI/CD workflows

Copilot Chat can also walk through deployment pipeline problems. When a GitHub Actions workflow for deploying Slidev slides to GitHub Pages failed repeatedly, the assistant helped trace through the configuration and identify the source of the failure. The same approach can be applied to any workflow debug session.

From code editor to workflow assistant

The common thread across these features is that Copilot no longer stops at code suggestions. It can write commit messages, explain terminal output, generate documentation, answer questions about unfamiliar repositories, and help close out issue queues—all without leaving the tools where the work happens. As Copilot expands across the GitHub platform, its role is shifting from code companion to general development assistant.