Allow configuring NETBOX_COPILOT_URL via configuration

[MyEcoria]

NetBox version

v4.5.5

Feature type

Change to existing functionality

Proposed functionality

Currently, the NETBOX_COPILOT_URL setting (https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/blob/main/netbox/netbox/settings.py#L664) is hardcoded in the NetBox codebase. This proposal introduces the ability to configure this value via the standard NetBox configuration mechanism.

The implementation would:

Replace the hardcoded value with a configurable setting:

NETBOX_COPILOT_URL = getattr(
configuration,
"NETBOX_COPILOT_URL",
"https://static.copilot.netboxlabs.ai/load.js"
)

Use case

This feature enables several practical use cases:

Allowing organizations to use a self-hosted version of the Copilot script
Improving security and compliance by avoiding reliance on externally hosted JavaScript
Enabling customization or extension of Copilot behavior
Supporting restricted or air-gapped environments where external resources cannot be loaded

Currently, achieving this requires modifying the NetBox source code, which complicates upgrades and maintenance. Making this configurable aligns with existing NetBox patterns and provides a cleaner solution.

Database changes

None.

External dependencies

None.

[mrmrcoleman]

Hey @MyEcoria Copilot is a cloud service and we frequently release that code. It also pulls dynamic dependencies so local mirroring would break compatibility with the cloud service. Also airgap doesn't work with a cloud service.

Could you share a little more about your use case?

[MyEcoria]

Hey @mrmrcoleman, my goal isn’t to mirror the cloud Copilot but to replace it entirely with a self-hosted implementation (for data sovereignty and customization).
Making NETBOX_COPILOT_URL configurable would allow cleanly swapping the script without modifying NetBox core, even if it breaks compatibility with the official service.

[jeremystretch]

@MyEcoria we intentionally hard-code the value of NETBOX_COPILOT_URL in the application because it serves a specific purpose (embedding the NetBox Copilot agent). This is considered safe because it is a resource controlled exclusively by NetBox Labs. I'm not comfortable opening this up for configuration because it would open the door for users to embed any random script in the UI merely by altering the configuration file. Even ignoring the obvious security risks, this is likely to trigger invalid bug reports against the open source project.

I'm afraid that if you want to embed arbitrary Javascript content in the UI, you'll need to do so via a plugin or by forking the core project.