copilot-settings.md

ContentId	7b232695-cbbe-4f3f-a625-abc7a5e6496c
DateApproved	12/10/2025
MetaDescription	Overview of the configuration settings for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code.
MetaSocialImage	../images/shared/github-copilot-social.png

GitHub Copilot in VS Code settings reference

This article lists the configuration settings for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code. For general information about working with settings in VS Code, refer to User and workspace settings.

The team is continuously working on improving Copilot in VS Code and adding new features. Some features are still experimental. Try them out and share your feedback in our issues. Get more info about the feature lifecycle in VS Code.

Tip

If you don't yet have a Copilot subscription, you can use Copilot for free by signing up for the Copilot Free plan and get a monthly limit of inline suggestions and chat interactions.

General settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(chat.commandCenter.enabled) Controls whether to show the Chat menu in the VS Code title bar.	true
setting(workbench.settings.showAISearchToggle) Enable searching settings with AI in the Settings editor.	true
setting(workbench.commandPalette.experimental.askChatLocation) (Experimental) Controls where the Command Palette should ask chat questions.	"chatView"
setting(search.searchView.semanticSearchBehavior) (Preview) Configure when to run semantic search in the Search view: manually (default), when no text search results are found, or always.	"manual"
setting(search.searchView.keywordSuggestions) (Preview) Controls whether to show keyword suggestions in the Search view.	false

Code editing settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(github.copilot.editor.enableCodeActions) Controls if Copilot commands are shown as Code Actions when available.	true
setting(github.copilot.renameSuggestions.triggerAutomatically) Generate symbol renaming suggestions.	true
setting(github.copilot.enable) Enable or disable inline suggestions for specified languages.	{ "*": true, "plaintext": false, "markdown": false, "scminput": false }
setting(github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled) Enables next edit suggestions (NES).	true
setting(editor.inlineSuggest.edits.allowCodeShifting) Configure if NES is able to shift your code to show a suggestion.	"always"
setting(editor.inlineSuggest.edits.renderSideBySide) Configure if NES can show larger suggestions side-by-side if possible, or if Copilot NES should always show larger suggestions below the relevant code.	"auto"
setting(github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.fixes) Enable next edit suggestions based on diagnostics (squiggles). For example, missing imports.	true
setting(editor.inlineSuggest.minShowDelay) Time in milliseconds to wait before showing inline suggestions.	0

Chat settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(github.copilot.chat.localeOverride) Specify a locale for chat responses, such as en or fr.	"auto"
setting(github.copilot.chat.useProjectTemplates) Use relevant GitHub projects as starter projects when using /new.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.scopeSelection) Whether to prompt for a specific symbol scope if you use /explain and the active editor has no selection.	false
setting(github.copilot.chat.terminalChatLocation) Controls where chat queries from the terminal should be opened.	"chatView"
setting(chat.detectParticipant.enabled) Enable chat participant detection in the Chat view.	true
setting(chat.checkpoints.enabled) Enable or disable checkpoints in the chat.	true
setting(chat.checkpoints.showFileChanges) Show a summary of file changes at the end of each chat request.	false
setting(chat.editRequests) Enable or disable editing previous chat requests.	"inline"
setting(chat.editor.fontFamily) Font family in chat codeblocks.	"default"
setting(chat.editor.fontSize) Font size in pixels in chat codeblocks.	14
setting(chat.editor.fontWeight) Font weight in chat codeblocks.	"default"
setting(chat.editor.lineHeight) Line height in pixels in chat codeblocks.	0
setting(chat.editor.wordWrap) Toggle line wrapping in chat codeblocks.	"off"
setting(chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRemoval) Ask for confirmation before undoing an edit.	true
setting(chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRetry) Ask for confirmation before performing a redo of the last edit.	true
setting(chat.editing.autoAcceptDelay) Configure a delay after which suggested edits are automatically accepted, use zero to disable auto-accept.	0
setting(chat.fontFamily) Font family for Markdown content in chat.	"default"
setting(chat.fontSize) Font size in pixels for Markdown content in chat.	13
setting(chat.notifyWindowOnConfirmation) Enable or disable showing an OS notification window when user input is needed.	true
setting(chat.notifyWindowOnResponseReceived) Enable or disable showing an OS notification window when a chat response is received.	true
setting(chat.tools.terminal.autoReplyToPrompts) Automatically reply to terminal prompts with a default answer.	false
setting(chat.tools.terminal.terminalProfile.<platform>) Configure which terminal profile to use for chat terminal commands on each platform.	""
setting(chat.useAgentsMdFile) Enable or disable using AGENTS.md files as context for chat requests.	true
setting(chat.math.enabled) (Preview) Enable or disable math rendering with KaTeX in chat.	false
setting(chat.viewTitle.enabled) (Preview) Show the title of the current chat session in the chat header.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled) (Preview) When using #codebase in the prompt, Copilot automatically discovers relevant files to be edited.	false
setting(chat.emptyState.history.enabled) (Experimental) Show recent chat history in the empty state of the Chat view.	false
setting(chat.sendElementsToChat.enabled) (Experimental) Enable sending elements from the Simple Browser to the chat view as context.	true
setting(chat.useNestedAgentsMdFiles) (Experimental) Enable or disable using AGENTS.md files in subfolders of your workspace as context for chat requests.	false
setting(github.copilot.chat.customOAIModels) (Experimental) Configure custom OpenAI-compatible models for chat.	[]
setting(github.copilot.chat.edits.suggestRelatedFilesFromGitHistory) (Experimental) Suggest related files from git history in chat context.	true

Agent settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(chat.agent.enabled:true) Enable or disable using agents (requires VS Code 1.99 or later).	true
setting(chat.agent.maxRequests) Maximum number of requests that Copilot can make using agents.	25
setting(github.copilot.chat.agent.autoFix) Automatically diagnose and fix issues in the generated code changes.	true
setting(chat.mcp.access) Manage which Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers can be used in VS Code.	true
setting(chat.mcp.discovery.enabled) Configure automatic discovery of MCP server configuration from other applications.	false
setting(chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove) Control which terminal commands are auto-approved when using agents. Commands can be set to true (auto-approve) or false (require approval). Regular expressions can be used by wrapping patterns in / characters.	{ "rm": false, "rmdir": false, "del": false, "kill": false, "curl": false, "wget": false, "eval": false, "chmod": false, "chown": false, "/^Remove-Item\\b/i": false }
setting(chat.tools.terminal.enableAutoApprove) Enable or disable automatic approval of terminal commands.	true
setting(chat.tools.terminal.ignoreDefaultAutoApproveRules) Ignore the default auto-approve rules for terminal commands.	false
setting(chat.tools.global.autoApprove) Automatically approve all tools - this setting disables critical security protections.	false
setting(chat.tools.urls.autoApprove) Control which URL requests and responses are auto-approved.	[]
setting(chat.agent.thinking.collapsedTools) (Experimental) Configure whether tool call details are collapsed or expanded by default in the chat conversation.	always
setting(chat.agent.thinkingStyle) (Experimental) Configure how thinking tokens are presented in chat.	fixedScrolling
setting(chat.customAgentInSubagent.enabled) (Experimental) Enable using a custom agent with subagents.	false
setting(chat.mcp.autoStart) (Experimental) Automatically start MCP servers when MCP configuration changes are detected.	newAndOutdated
setting(chat.tools.eligibleForAutoApproval) (Experimental) Configure which tools require manual approval before they can be used by agents.	[]
setting(chat.tools.terminal.blockDetectedFileWrites) (Experimental) Require user approval for terminal commands that perform file writes.	outsideWorkspace
setting(chat.useAgentSkills) (Experimental) Enable support for agent skills in VS Code.	false
setting(github.copilot.chat.newWorkspaceCreation.enabled) (Experimental) Enable the tool for scaffolding a new workspace in chat.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.agent.thinkingTool:true) (Experimental) Enable the thinking tool when using agents.	false
setting(github.copilot.chat.cli.customAgents.enabled) (Experimental) Enable using custom agents from GitHub background agent sessions.	false
setting(github.copilot.chat.summarizeAgentConversationHistory.enabled) (Experimental) Automatically summarize the agent conversation history when the context window is full.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold) (Experimental) Tool count over which virtual tools should be used. Virtual tools group similar sets of tools together and enable the model to activate them on-demand. Enables you to go beyond the limit of 128 tools for a chat request.	128

Agent sessions

The Agents view provides a centralized location for managing both local chat conversations and remote coding agent sessions. This view enables you to work with multiple AI sessions simultaneously, track their progress, and manage long-running tasks efficiently.

Setting and Description	Default
setting(chat.viewSessions.orientation) Configure how the agent sessions list is shown in the Chat view.	auto
setting(chat.agentSessionsViewLocation) (Preview) Enable or disable the dedicated Agents view.	disabled

Inline chat settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(inlineChat.finishOnType) Finish an editor inline chat session when typing outside of changed regions.	false
setting(inlineChat.holdToSpeech) Holding the editor inline chat keyboard shortcut (kb(inlineChat.start)) automatically enables speech recognition.	true
setting(editor.inlineSuggest.syntaxHighlightingEnabled) Show syntax highlighting for inline suggestions.	true
setting(inlineChat.lineEmptyHint) (Experimental) Show a hint for editor inline chat on an empty line.	false
setting(inlineChat.lineNaturalLanguageHint) (Experimental) Trigger editor inline chat as soon as a line mostly consists of words.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.editor.temporalContext.enabled) (Experimental) Include recently viewed and edited files in the context for editor inline chat.	false

Code review settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.enabled) (Preview) Enable code review with AI for an editor text selection.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.instructions) (Preview) Custom instructions that are added to requests for reviewing the current editor selection with AI.	[]

Custom instructions settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(chat.instructionsFilesLocations) Locations to search for custom instructions files. Relative paths are resolved from the root folder(s) of your workspace. Supports glob patterns for file paths.	{ ".github/instructions": true }
setting(github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useInstructionFiles) Automatically add custom instructions from .github/copilot-instructions.md to chat requests.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions) (Experimental) Custom instructions for generating commit messages with AI.	[]
setting(github.copilot.chat.pullRequestDescriptionGeneration.instructions) (Experimental) Custom instructions for generating pull request titles and descriptions with AI.	[]

Reusable prompt files settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(chat.promptFilesLocations) Locations to search for prompt files. Relative paths are resolved from the root folder(s) of your workspace. Supports glob patterns for file paths.	{ ".github/prompts": true }
setting(chat.promptFilesRecommendations) Enable or disable prompt file recommendations when opening a new chat session. List of key-value pairs of prompt file name and boolean or when clause.	[]

Debugging settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled) (Preview) Enables the experimental /startDebugging intent in the Chat view to generate debugging configuration.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled) (Preview) Enables the copilot-debug terminal command.	true

Testing settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(github.copilot.chat.generateTests.codeLens) (Experimental) Show Generate tests code lens for symbols that are not covered by current test coverage information.	false
setting(github.copilot.chat.setupTests.enabled) (Experimental) Enables the experimental /setupTests intent and prompting in /tests generation.	true

Notebook settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(notebook.experimental.generate) (Experimental) Enable the Generate action to create code cells with notebook inline chat.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.edits.newNotebook.enabled) (Experimental) Enable the notebook tool in edit mode to create a new notebook file.	true
setting(github.copilot.chat.notebook.followCellExecution.enabled) (Experimental) Show the currently executing cell in the editor.	false

Accessibility settings

Setting and Description	Default
setting(inlineChat.accessibleDiffView) Whether the Inline Chat also renders an accessible diff viewer for its changes.	"auto"
setting(accessibility.signals.chatRequestSent) Plays a signal - sound (audio cue) and/or announcement (alert) - when a chat request is made.	{ "sound": "auto", "announcement": "auto" }
setting(accessibility.signals.chatResponseReceived) Plays a sound / audio cue when the response has been received.	{ "sound": "auto" }
setting(accessibility.signals.chatEditModifiedFile) Plays a sound / audio cue when the file has been modified by chat edits.	{ "sound": "auto" }
setting(accessibility.signals.chatUserActionRequired) Plays a sound / audio cue when the user needs to take an action in chat.	{ "sound": "auto", "announcement": "auto" }
setting(accessibility.signals.lineHasInlineSuggestion) Plays a sound / audio cue when the cursor is on a line that has an inline suggestion.	{ "sound": "auto" }
setting(accessibility.signals.nextEditSuggestion) Plays a sound / audio cue when a next edit suggestion is available.	{ "sound": "auto", "announcement": "auto" }
setting(accessibility.verboseChatProgressUpdates) Provide verbose updates about chat activity.	true
setting(accessibility.verbosity.inlineChat) Provide information about how to access the inline editor chat accessibility help menu and alert with hints that describe how to use the feature when the input is focused.	true
setting(accessibility.verbosity.inlineCompletions) Provide information about how to access the inline suggestions hover and Accessible View.	true
setting(accessibility.verbosity.panelChat) Provide information about how to access the chat help menu when the chat input is focused.	true
setting(accessibility.voice.keywordActivation) Controls whether the keyword phrase 'Hey Code' is recognized to start a voice chat session.	"off"
setting(accessibility.voice.autoSynthesize) Controls whether a textual response should automatically be read out aloud when speech was used as input.	"off"
setting(accessibility.voice.speechTimeout) The duration in milliseconds that voice speech recognition remains active after you stop speaking.	1200

Related resources

• Get a quick overview of the Copilot features in VS Code