GitHub Copilot in Slack and Teams is generally available on all paid plans
GitHub has moved @GitHub in Slack and Microsoft Teams out of public preview. A GitHub Changelog entry dated November 6, 2026 declares the integration generally available, which means a developer can mention @GitHub in a chat thread and have the Copilot cloud agent investigate a bug, open an issue, implement a change and prepare a pull request without leaving the conversation. GitHub's documentation for both chat apps now lists the feature as available for all paid Copilot plans, a broader footprint than the August preview of the Slack version, which GitHub had described as limited to organizations on Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise.
The general availability release arrives with one new capability and three practical fixes. In Teams, a canvas now opens next to the conversation and shows the agent's implementation plan, its file changes and previews, so teammates can comment on the work and refine it inside Teams. On both platforms, @GitHub now picks the repository from the wording of the message and starts a session without asking the user to select it again, including when the user is signed out, has no default repository, wants to switch repositories or still needs to grant app access. GitHub also fixed a bug that could block replies to follow-up messages, and issues and pull requests created by the agent now carry a note in their description saying they came from a Slack or Teams conversation with a named user.
The agent behind the chat mention is the same Copilot cloud agent that runs from github.com, the Copilot app, the CLI and the IDEs. Sessions run asynchronously in a GitHub-hosted cloud sandbox, and the work can be picked up afterwards from the terminal, the Copilot app or an editor through the pull request it produced.
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WHAT @GITHUB IN SLACK AND TEAMS DOES AFTER GENERAL AVAILABILITY.
According to GitHub's documentation, a session starts with @GitHub <task> in a channel, a thread, a group chat or a direct message. Copilot then investigates, plans, writes code, reproduces bugs, runs tests and prepares a pull request, posting results in the thread when they are ready. Mentioning @GitHub again in the same thread iterates on the work, and Copilot takes into account every message posted since the previous mention. @GitHub help lists the available actions and @GitHub settings manages channel defaults such as the repositories and the model.
A request can name the target explicitly with parameters. The Teams guide gives the form @GitHub Create a pull request to YOUR-PROMPT repo=OWNER/REPO branch=BRANCH-NAME, where repo selects the repository and branch sets an existing branch as the base of the pull request. Users can also pick a model from a picker or name one in the request; the choice applies only to that conversation, and clearing the channel's model setting returns it to the standard default.
The agent can also create issues from natural language, including several issues linked in parent and child relationships, but only in repositories where the requesting user already has permission to create issues. Model Context Protocol servers configured for a repository are available in sessions on that repository, and Copilot Memory, still in public preview, can store repository facts and personal preferences that later sessions reuse. Memories can be reviewed and deleted.
The two chat apps present the work differently. In Slack, Copilot creates a dedicated Slack Code channel for each task, a channel type GitHub described in August as designed for agents, with GitHub as a launch partner. Once that channel exists, the session is steered only from there; it shows the working repositories, branches, linked issues or pull requests, the session status and the model in use, and when the session ends Copilot asks whether to archive the channel, which stays searchable and can be reopened. In Teams, the new canvas plays the reviewing role: an Open canvas button displays the plan, the file changes and an overview of the pull requests created. GitHub's Teams documentation describes the canvas as read-only and limited to content the viewer can already see on GitHub.
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Capability | Slack | Microsoft Teams |
Start a session | @GitHub in a thread or DM | @GitHub in a channel, group chat or DM |
Where work is reviewed | Dedicated Slack Code channel | Canvas next to the conversation |
Canvas or channel editing | Steer only in the Slack Code channel | Canvas is read-only |
Repositories per session | Up to 11, same owner | Up to 11, same owner |
Default repository in DMs | Not supported | Not supported |
Model choice | Per conversation | Per conversation |
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WHO CAN USE GITHUB COPILOT IN SLACK AND TEAMS, AND ON WHICH PLANS.
The general availability entry itself does not list plans or prices. GitHub's integration guides for Slack and for Teams both state that the feature is available for all paid Copilot plans and require a GitHub account with Copilot access through a paid plan, plus a Slack workspace or a Teams account. Users on the free Copilot tier are therefore outside the integration. For anyone comparing what each tier costs across the coding-agent market, our guide to AI coding agent pricing across Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Replit and Grok sets out the plan structure.
Organizations keep control through existing policies. For users who receive Copilot through an organization or enterprise, the Copilot cloud agent policy (called "Copilot in the cloud" in the Slack guide) is enabled by default, and an owner can switch it off. Sessions run in a cloud sandbox that needs no separate setting, while owners can enable or disable cloud sandboxes for the whole organization or enterprise. Copilot Memory must be enabled by an administrator on organization and enterprise plans and is on by default for individual plans. For enterprise-owned repositories, administrators must install and configure the GitHub app for Slack and choose which repositories it can reach.
The preview history shows how plan coverage has widened. GitHub's August 21 changelog for the new Slack experience said it was available to organizations on Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise, while the August Teams preview was offered with paid Copilot plans in general. The current documentation puts both apps on the same footing.
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Item | August 2026 preview | November 2026 general availability |
Status | Public preview (Slack and Teams) | Generally available |
Plans named by GitHub | Slack: Business and Enterprise; Teams: paid plans | Slack and Teams: all paid Copilot plans (docs) |
Teams review surface | Thread updates | Canvas with plan, changes and previews |
Repository selection | Selected when prompted | Inferred from the message |
Pull request attribution | Copilot app identity | App identity plus a note naming the chat and user |
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HOW GITHUB COPILOT CLOUD AGENT USAGE FROM SLACK AND TEAMS IS BILLED.
Neither the general availability entry nor the two integration guides describe a separate charge for chat-started sessions. The August preview announcements are the clearest statement GitHub has published on the subject. The Teams preview post said cloud agent sessions started from Teams consume AI credits that organizations can govern with usage-based billing budgets, and that cloud sandbox usage is billed separately and can be capped with a product-level or SKU-level budget. The Slack preview post said usage counts against existing Copilot entitlements and can be managed with existing Copilot cloud agent budgets.
The sandbox part became more concrete at GitHub Universe. GitHub's October 28 changelog on the connected Copilot cloud experience said billing for cloud sandbox usage starts in November 2026, drawing first from the included Actions entitlement, which is now a shared, dollar-based pool deducted at each product's published rate and reset at the start of each billing cycle. We covered that change in detail in our article on GitHub Copilot cloud sandboxes and the shared compute pool. Enterprises that receive Copilot through GitHub Enterprise without a seat charge should also read our report on AI credits billed from the first request, since every chat-started session draws on the same pools.
For administrators, the practical consequence is that opening @GitHub to a busy channel can turn casual requests into metered agent runs. Budgets on AI credits and on sandbox compute are the controls GitHub points to, and administrators can set them before announcing the app to a large workspace.
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PERMISSIONS, PULL REQUEST APPROVALS AND DATA HANDLING IN SLACK AND TEAMS.
GitHub's documentation separates personal and shared contexts. In a direct message, Copilot acts with the permissions of the user's linked GitHub account, so issues and pull requests appear under that person. In channels, threads and group chats, Copilot creates artifacts under its own app identity. Only users with write access to every repository selected for a session can trigger changes or steer the work, although any participant in the conversation can add input. Guest members of the chat workspace and outside collaborators on the repositories cannot start or steer sessions.
Because pull requests created in shared contexts are not attributed to a person, GitHub adds a safeguard on merging. If a repository already requires at least one approval, a pull request opened by the integration needs one more approval before it can merge, and this setting is on by default. GitHub's August example made the arithmetic explicit: a repository that requires two approvals requires three for Copilot-created pull requests.
Context handling is the other point teams should weigh. Copilot captures the entire thread as context, uses every message to inform the work and stores that context in the artifacts it generates. GitHub's own advice for limiting what the agent reads is to send a direct message to the GitHub app instead of mentioning it in a busy thread.
Several limits apply to every session. One session can span up to 11 repositories, all owned by the same organization or personal account, and the user needs write access to each. Default repositories for a channel must share one owner, changes to channel defaults affect only new conversations, and direct messages cannot have a default repository, so the repository must be named in the prompt. A session will not start if a repository's MCP configuration is invalid or too large; a repository administrator has to fix it first.
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HOW TO SET UP @GITHUB IN SLACK OR MICROSOFT TEAMS.
In Teams, GitHub's guide uses an installation link that opens Teams and its installation dialog; after clicking Add, the user authenticates and authorizes the app. The app needs to be installed only once per team, and each member then connects their own GitHub account by mentioning @GitHub and following the prompts. The combined app also delivers repository notifications, so teams already using the GitHub Notifications app should update it, and GitHub says existing subscriptions and scheduled reminders are preserved. In public channels, users may be asked to set a default repository.
In Slack, the starting point is installing the GitHub integration for Slack, or upgrading an existing installation. Users open a direct message with the GitHub app or mention @GitHub in a thread, connect their GitHub account, set a default repository if prompted and run @GitHub help to see the available actions. In a channel, @GitHub settings opens controls for the repository owner, the repositories and the model, with the first repository marked as primary. Channel defaults are shared, so a change made by one member affects everyone who uses Copilot in that channel.
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Step | Who does it | Slack | Teams |
Keep cloud agent policy on | Org or enterprise owner | Required | Required |
Install or upgrade the GitHub app | Workspace or team admin | GitHub app for Slack | GitHub app for Teams |
Connect GitHub account | Each user | Via @GitHub prompts | Via @GitHub prompts |
Set default repositories | Channel members | @GitHub settings | @GitHub settings |
Enable Copilot Memory | Admin (org plans) | Optional | Optional |
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GITHUB COPILOT IN SLACK AND TEAMS: CONFIRMED FACTS AND OPEN QUESTIONS.
The confirmed part is clear from GitHub's own pages. As of November 6, 2026, @GitHub in Slack and Microsoft Teams is generally available; the documentation lists it for all paid Copilot plans; Teams gains a read-only canvas for plans, changes and previews; repository selection is inferred from the message; a reply-blocking bug is fixed; and generated issues and pull requests name the chat and the user they came from. Sessions run in GitHub's cloud sandbox, handle up to 11 same-owner repositories and require write access to each.
What GitHub has not restated for the general availability release is the billing detail. The preview posts tied Teams sessions to AI credits and separate sandbox charges and tied Slack sessions to existing Copilot entitlements and cloud agent budgets, and sandbox billing began this month under the shared compute pool, but the GA entry publishes no per-session cost. GitHub also publishes no usage figures for the preview period and no date for Copilot Memory to leave public preview. Organizations planning a wide rollout have enough to configure policies, budgets and approval rules today, and should watch their first billing cycle closely to see what a chat-started session costs in practice.
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