Rongchai Wang
Jan 14, 2026 20:42
GitHub rolls out GPT-5 mini and GPT-4.1 fashions to Copilot CLI alongside 4 specialised brokers for code evaluation, planning, and automatic testing.
GitHub has shipped a considerable replace to Copilot CLI, including GPT-5 mini and GPT-4.1 fashions that will not depend in opposition to premium request limits for paid subscribers. The January 14 launch additionally introduces 4 specialised brokers designed to deal with discrete improvement duties with out cluttering your foremost dialog context.
The brand new brokers—Discover, Process, Plan, and Code-review—every deal with particular workflows. Discover handles quick codebase evaluation for fast questions. Process runs builds and assessments, returning transient summaries on success however full output when issues break. Plan maps out implementation by analyzing dependencies. Code-review focuses on surfacing real points relatively than nitpicking type preferences.
What’s truly helpful right here: Copilot now delegates to those brokers routinely when it detects an acceptable job, and might run a number of brokers in parallel. Mixed with the Agent Expertise characteristic GitHub launched in December, builders can chain agentic workflows instantly from their terminal.
Set up Will get Less complicated
GitHub has added package deal supervisor assist throughout platforms. Home windows customers can run winget set up GitHub.Copilot, whereas macOS and Linux customers have Homebrew (brew set up copilot-cli) or a curl script choice. Bundle supervisor installations deal with automated updates—no extra handbook model bumps.
The CLI now comes pre-installed in GitHub Codespaces and works as a Dev Container Characteristic for standardized dev environments.
Context Administration Enhancements
Token administration will get smarter with auto-compaction that kicks in at 95% of the restrict, routinely compressing dialog historical past. The brand new /context command reveals precisely the place your tokens are going, whereas /compact helps you to manually compress when wanted.
Session continuity improves too—the --resume flag now helps you to tab via each native periods and distant Copilot coding agent periods.
Pipeline Integration
New flags goal CI/CD use instances. --silent suppresses logs for clear parseable output. --share-gist exports periods to shareable gists. Instrument allowlisting and denylisting by way of --available-tools and --excluded-tools give granular management over what Copilot can entry in automated environments.
A brand new web_fetch device retrieves URL content material as markdown, with entry managed via config file patterns that additionally apply to shell instructions like curl and wget.
The diff viewer now consists of intra-line syntax highlighting and integrates with Git’s configured pager. Agent-run instructions not pollute your bash historical past—a small quality-of-life repair that issues throughout lengthy debugging periods.
Replace by way of your package deal supervisor or run npm set up -g @github/copilot@newest. The general public repository at github.com/github/copilot-cli hosts ongoing dialogue.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
