GitHub Copilot Installation & Setup Guide for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs (2026)

GitHub Copilot Installation & Setup Guide for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant that provides real-time code suggestions, chat-based help, and workspace-aware intelligence. This guide walks you through installing, configuring, and optimizing Copilot across VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, including language-specific tuning, Copilot Chat, workspace indexing, and organization policy management.

Prerequisites

• A GitHub account with an active Copilot subscription (Individual, Business, or Enterprise)- VS Code 1.90+ or a JetBrains IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.) version 2024.1+- Node.js 18+ (recommended for workspace indexing features)- Stable internet connection for initial authentication

Step 1: Install the GitHub Copilot Extension

VS Code Installation

• Open VS Code and navigate to the Extensions panel (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X).- Search for GitHub Copilot and click Install. This installs both the inline suggestion engine and Copilot Chat.- Alternatively, install from the command line:code —install-extension GitHub.copilot code —install-extension GitHub.copilot-chat- Reload VS Code when prompted. A Copilot icon will appear in the status bar.- Click the icon and select Sign in to GitHub. Complete the OAuth flow in your browser.

JetBrains IDE Installation

• Open your JetBrains IDE and go to Settings → Plugins → Marketplace.- Search for GitHub Copilot and click Install.- Restart the IDE when prompted.- Navigate to Settings → Tools → GitHub Copilot and click Login to GitHub.- Copy the device code, open the verification URL in your browser, and paste the code to authorize.

Step 2: Configure Language-Specific Suggestions

Copilot supports all major languages but you can fine-tune which languages receive suggestions.

VS Code — settings.json

{ “github.copilot.enable”: { ”*”: true, “python”: true, “javascript”: true, “typescript”: true, “markdown”: false, “plaintext”: false, “yaml”: true }, “github.copilot.advanced”: { “inlineSuggestCount”: 3, “length”: 500 } }

JetBrains — Language Filters

• Go to Settings → Tools → GitHub Copilot → Languages.- Toggle individual languages on or off. For example, disable Copilot for .env and .properties files to avoid leaking secrets.- Use file pattern exclusions to block suggestions in sensitive directories:

  # In .copilotignore (place in project root)
  .env
  config/secrets/**
  *.pem
  *.key

Step 3: Set Up Copilot Chat

Copilot Chat provides a conversational interface for code explanation, generation, test writing, and debugging.

VS Code Chat Configuration

• Open Chat with Ctrl+Shift+I (or Cmd+Shift+I on macOS).- Use slash commands for targeted actions:

  Command	Purpose	Example
  /explain	Explain selected code	Select a function, then type /explain
  /fix	Suggest a fix for errors	Highlight a bug, type /fix
  /tests	Generate unit tests	/tests for the selected function
  /doc	Generate documentation	/doc add JSDoc comments
  @workspace	Query the entire project	@workspace how is auth handled?

JetBrains Chat

• Open the Copilot Chat tool window from View → Tool Windows → GitHub Copilot Chat.- The same slash commands work in JetBrains. Right-click any code selection and choose Copilot → Explain This for quick inline help.# Example: Ask Copilot Chat to generate a Python test /tests Write pytest tests for the calculate_discount function in pricing.py

Step 4: Enable Workspace Indexing

Workspace indexing allows Copilot to understand your entire codebase for more relevant suggestions and accurate @workspace answers.

VS Code

{ “github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useWorkspaceContext”: true, “github.copilot.chat.indexing.enabled”: true, “github.copilot.chat.indexing.maxFiles”: 5000 }- After enabling, VS Code will index your workspace in the background. Check progress in the Output panel under GitHub Copilot.- For large monorepos, create a .copilotignore file to exclude build artifacts, node_modules, and vendor directories from indexing.

JetBrains

• Go to Settings → Tools → GitHub Copilot → Indexing.- Enable Project-wide context and configure excluded directories.- Indexing respects your existing .gitignore patterns automatically.

Step 5: Organization Policy Settings

For Copilot Business and Enterprise plans, administrators can enforce policies across the organization.

GitHub Organization Admin Panel

• Go to github.com → Organization → Settings → Copilot → Policies.- Configure key policies:

  Policy	Description	Recommended Setting
  Suggestions matching public code	Block suggestions that match public repositories	Blocked (for enterprise compliance)
  Copilot Chat in IDE	Enable or disable Chat features	Enabled
  Copilot in CLI	Allow Copilot in GitHub CLI	Enabled
  Editor suggestions	Allow inline code completions	Enabled
  Content exclusions	Prevent Copilot from accessing specific repos or paths	Configure per-repo

Content Exclusion via Organization Settings

# In Organization Settings → Copilot → Content Exclusions

• ”**/*.env”
• “config/production/**”
• ”**/credentials.*“

Managing Seat Assignments via CLI

# List current Copilot seat assignments
gh api /orgs/YOUR_ORG/copilot/billing/seats --paginate

# Add a user to Copilot
gh api --method POST /orgs/YOUR_ORG/copilot/billing/selected_users \
  -f selected_usernames[]="developer-username"

# Remove a user
gh api --method DELETE /orgs/YOUR_ORG/copilot/billing/selected_users \
  -f selected_usernames[]="developer-username"

Pro Tips

• Trigger multiple suggestions: Press Ctrl+Enter in VS Code to open the Copilot completions panel showing up to 10 alternative suggestions.- Inline chat: Press Ctrl+I in VS Code to open an inline chat prompt directly in your editor without switching context.- Custom instructions: Create a .github/copilot-instructions.md file in your repository root to provide project-specific context to Copilot. For example: This project uses FastAPI with SQLAlchemy. Always use async/await patterns and Pydantic v2 models.- Keyboard shortcuts for JetBrains: Use Alt+</code> to manually trigger a suggestion and Tab to accept it. Use Alt+] and Alt+[ to cycle through alternatives.- Prompt engineering: Write a descriptive comment before a function to get better suggestions. Include parameter types, return values, and edge cases in your comment.