How to Use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code

📘 Introduction

Visual Studio Code is one of the most popular editors for developers. GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that can suggest code, explain files, answer questions, and help with coding tasks directly inside your editor.

In this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, connect it to a local project, start your first Copilot task, and review its suggestions.

The goal is not to replace your own review. The goal is to make Copilot a practical coding partner that can use your project context and help you move faster.

💡 What are we setting up?

We will set up this workflow:

Visual Studio Code -> GitHub Copilot -> local project folder -> coding task

You will use Visual Studio Code as your editor and GitHub Copilot as an AI coding assistant inside that workflow.

After the setup, you should be able to ask Copilot to:

• explain part of your codebase
• suggest code while you type
• help fix a small bug
• suggest or update tests
• summarize a proposed change

✅ Prerequisites

☑️ The latest version of Visual Studio Code
☑️ A personal GitHub account
☑️ Access to GitHub Copilot, including Copilot Free or another available Copilot plan
☑️ A local project folder or Git repository
☑️ Basic knowledge of opening folders in Visual Studio Code

⚙️1️⃣ Open your project in Visual Studio Code

First, open the project you want to work on in Visual Studio Code.

In Visual Studio Code, choose:

File -> Open Folder

Select your local project folder or Git repository.

For example, your folder might look like this:

my-project/
├── README.md
├── src/
└── tests/

Opening the correct project folder gives Copilot useful workspace context for explanations and coding tasks.

🧩2️⃣ Enable GitHub Copilot

Look at the Status Bar along the bottom edge of the Visual Studio Code window. Find the GitHub Copilot icon, move your pointer over it, and select:

Use AI Features

Visual Studio Code sets up the required Copilot extensions automatically. You do not need to search for and install them manually.