Preview. These maps are our reading of public sources and haven't been checked with the projects' maintainers yet.
GitHub Copilot
GitHub/Microsoft's assistant, mapped as one product: agent mode in VS Code and other IDEs, Copilot CLI, and a cloud coding agent that works from issues and opens PRs.
github/copilot-cli v1.0.103 released 2026-10-22; plans page shows new AI-credit pricing (gh api, fetched 2026-10-25). (checked 2026-10-25)
In Coding agents
Where it stands apart
- Where do you primarily use it? extension inside an existing IDE (19% of 21 others)
- Whose models can you use? Pick the first that applies. several vendors' models, only as served by the tool (19% of 21 others)
- Out of the box, does it ask you before editing files or running shell commands? edits without asking, asks before most commands (14% of 21 others)
What it shares with most of the community
- Is it actively maintained? active (71% of 21 others)
- How is it mainly sustained? company with a paid product, tier, or ads (71% of 21 others)
- Who is it for? developers (95% of 21 others)
- Is pointing it at a model running on your own machine (e.g. Ollama, LM Studio) a documented setup? yes, documented (67% of 21 others)
- Where do the commands it runs execute by default? on your machine with your user's permissions (86% of 21 others)
- Can users add their own tools through MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers? yes (95% of 21 others)
- Does it read project instructions from AGENTS.md? yes, alongside its own file (52% of 21 others)
Nearest neighbors
- Kiro 76% of 17 shared answers match
- Claude Code 71% of 17 shared answers match
- Cursor 71% of 17 shared answers match
Every answer
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Is it actively maintained? | active | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is the main thing licensed? | proprietary or closed source Copilot CLI and service are proprietary; the VS Code Copilot Chat extension is MIT (microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat). | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is it mainly sustained? | company with a paid product, tier, or ads | source 2026-10-25 |
| Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? | partly (some features need the maker's servers) IDE/CLI run locally; service hosted; BYOK can point the CLI at a local model. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Do you need an account to use it? | account required Needs GitHub account and Copilot plan (including Free). | source 2026-10-26 |
| Who is it for? | developers | source 2026-10-25 |
| Which shared standard or format does it mainly build on? | MCP (Model Context Protocol) MCP for tools; reads AGENTS.md alongside its own copilot-instructions format. | source 2026-10-26 |
| Where do you primarily use it? | stands apart extension inside an existing IDE Also Copilot CLI and the github.com cloud agent. | source 2026-10-25 |
| How does finished work usually come back to you? | both are first-class IDE/CLI edit locally; cloud agent works in an ephemeral environment and opens a PR. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Whose models can you use? Pick the first that applies. | stands apart several vendors' models, only as served by the tool Multi-vendor models served by GitHub; CLI also supports custom providers (BYOK). | source 2026-10-25 |
| Is pointing it at a model running on your own machine (e.g. Ollama, LM Studio) a documented setup? | yes, documented COPILOT_PROVIDER_BASE_URL; API key 'not needed for local setups like Ollama'. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Out of the box, does it ask you before editing files or running shell commands? | stands apart edits without asking, asks before most commands VS Code default is Manual permissions; 'common read-only commands run automatically, while risky commands ... require approval'. The docs are ambiguous about edits, which apply for keep/undo review. Copilot CLI asks before modifying or executing. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Where do the commands it runs execute by default? | on your machine with your user's permissions Local sandbox is opt-in (/sandbox enable); cloud agent and copilot --cloud run in GitHub's environment. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Can users add their own tools through MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers? | yes | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does it read project instructions from AGENTS.md? | yes, alongside its own file AGENTS.md alongside .github/copilot-instructions.md. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does it use the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) for agent-editor connections? | yes, as an agent that editors can drive Copilot CLI can be used as an ACP agent. | source 2026-10-25 |
| When you first set it up, how do you pay for the models it uses by default? | a subscription plan from the tool's maker Free/Pro $10/Pro+ $39/Max $100 with included AI credits; extra credits at $0.01. | source 2026-10-25 |
Sources
This page was derived from:
- GitHub · docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/agents/about-copilot-cli · read 2026-10-25
- GitHub · docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/agents/coding-agent/about-coding-agent · read 2026-10-25
- GitHub · docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/configure-custom-instructions/add-repository-instructions · read 2026-10-25
- GitHub · github.com/features/copilot · read 2026-10-25
- GitHub · github.com/features/copilot/plans · read 2026-10-25
- GitHub · github.com/github/copilot-cli/blob/main/LICENSE.md · read 2026-10-25
- GitHub · github.com/github/copilot-cli/releases · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/approvals · read 2026-10-25
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