Introducing Copilot CLI and agentic capabilities enhancements in JetBrains IDEs

GitHub has released Copilot CLI for JetBrains IDEs, adding agent picker support, new slash commands, and an agent debug panel in public preview, alongside a phased transition to the Copilot CLI agent as the default experience. The update also integrates Coding Agent into a unified sessions view, introduces configurable thinking effort for supported models, and adds Google and Apple sign-in options. These enhancements aim to improve developer workflow flexibility and session management within JetBrains environments.

Introducing Copilot CLI and agentic capabilities enhancements in JetBrains IDEs With Copilot CLI now available in GitHub Copilot for JetBrains IDEs, this update centers on new capabilities for Copilot CLI sessions, while also delivering a broader set of agentic improvements. For Copilot CLI sessions, that includes agent picker support, new slash commands, and the agent debug panel in public preview, along with the beginning of a phased transition to Copilot CLI agent as the default experience. In parallel, this release also integrates Coding Agent into the unified sessions view, adds configurable thinking effort for supported models, introduces the agent customizations editor, adds Google and Apple sign-in options, and includes additional user experience and reliability improvements. New features new-features Agent picker support for Copilot CLI sessions agent-picker-support-for-copilot-cli-sessions Copilot CLI agent now includes an agent picker that lets you flexibly choose between different operating modes to suit your workflow: Agent mode default : Full agentic experience with autonomous task execution. Ask mode : Get quick answers and assistance. Custom agents : Use personalized agents tailored to your specific needs. Plan mode : Collaborate on planning before implementation, where Copilot analyzes your request and builds a structured implementation plan for your review. New slash commands for Copilot CLI sessions new-slash-commands-for-copilot-cli-sessions /remote /remote The /remote command lets you remotely control a Copilot CLI session from github.com or the GitHub Mobile app. With remote control, you can monitor and steer your ongoing Copilot CLI sessions from anywhere, giving you more flexibility to keep work moving without being tied to your machine. Enable it from Settings Tools GitHub Copilot Chat Enable Copilot CLI Remote . /compact /compact The /compact command lets you manually compress the Copilot CLI session context at any time, keeping long-running sessions more manageable. /chronicle /chronicle The /chronicle command lets you review and analyze session history and provide personalized tips and improvements, helping you use Copilot more effectively. You can enter the following commands in an interactive Copilot CLI session: /chronicle standup : Generates a short report summarizing what you worked on in your recent CLI sessions. /chronicle tips : Provides personalized tips for using Copilot CLI more effectively. /chronicle improve : Analyzes your session history to identify patterns where Copilot may have misunderstood your intent or where there was a lot of back-and-forth. It uses this analysis to generate custom instructions to help Copilot better understand you in the future. /chronicle search : Search sessions for ones that match your query. Agent debug panel in public preview agent-debug-panel-in-public-preview The Agent Debug Log panel shows a chronological event log of agent interactions during a Copilot CLI session, making it especially useful when debugging custom agents and orchestrated sub-agent workflows. To use it, first select Copilot CLI from the agent picker in the Copilot Chat panel, then click the settings icon in the top-right and select Agent Debug Panel . For full support across current and historical sessions, also enable Settings Tools GitHub Copilot Chat Enable Agent debug File Logging . If you are a Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise subscriber, an administrator will have to enable the Editor preview features policy before you can use this feature. Cloud agent integrated into the unified sessions view cloud-agent-integrated-into-the-unified-sessions-view Cloud agent sessions are now surfaced directly in the unified sessions view in the chat panel. This makes it easier to manage and monitor all your agent sessions from one place, whether they’re local, CLI, or cloud. You can filter by agent type or status to find the session you’re looking for. To use cloud agent, enable it from Settings Tools GitHub Copilot Chat Enable Coding Agent . If you are a Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise subscriber, an administrator will have to enable the Editor preview features policy before you can use this feature. Configure thinking effort for supported models configure-thinking-effort-for-supported-models For reasoning models that support configurable thinking effort, you can now control how much reasoning the model applies to each request, directly from the model picker. Use a higher effort level for complex tasks like architectural decisions or multi-step debugging, and a lower level for straightforward code generation or simple questions. To configure thinking effort, open the model picker in the chat input field, select a reasoning model, and then select an effort level from the “Thinking Effort” submenu. Nonreasoning models, such as GPT-4o, will not show the thinking effort submenu. Agent customizations editor agent-customizations-editor The Agent Customizations editor provides a centralized UI for creating and managing all your agent customizations in one place. You can configure workspace customizations for the entire team, or create personal ones that follow you across projects. This includes viewing and editing existing custom agents, reusable skills, instructions, and prompts. To open the Agent Customizations editor, open the Copilot Chat panel and click the settings in the top-right, then select Customizations . More sign-in choices with Google and Apple more-sign-in-choices-with-google-and-apple You can now sign in to GitHub Copilot in JetBrains IDEs using Continue with Google and Continue with Apple in addition to existing sign-in options. This gives you more flexibility to authenticate with the account they already use, while keeping existing GitHub and enterprise sign-in flows available. User experience and reliability improvements user-experience-and-reliability-improvements We’ve also made several refinements to improve day-to-day workflows, stability, and responsiveness across JetBrains IDEs: - Smooth NES experience with better trigger strategy and detection logic. - Improved the unified session persistence and state management. - Improved overall UI freeze handling and stability. Availability updates availability-updates The following capabilities are now either generally available or available without the Editor Preview feature flag: - Agent skills are generally available - Agent hooks are generally available - Prompt files are generally available - Anthropic Thinking is generally available - BYOK is available without the Editor Preview feature flag, and availability for Copilot Business and Enterprise is controlled by GitHub policy https://github.com/settings/copilot/features?utm source=changelog-agentic-byok-settings&utm medium=changelog&utm campaign=msbuild-2026 Copilot CLI agent as default copilot-cli-agent-as-default We’re rolling out a phased transition to make Copilot CLI agent currently in public preview the default. It offers a more powerful and consistent agentic experience, with support for multiple isolation modes, live session progress, and tool call visibility. To select Copilot CLI agent, open the agent picker in chat and choose Copilot CLI . Copilot Business and Enterprise subscribers will need their administrator to enable the editor preview features policy first. Try it out try-it-out We encourage you to try out the latest version of the GitHub Copilot plugin https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/17718-github-copilot--your-ai-pair-programmer/versions and share your feedback. Your input is invaluable in helping us refine and improve the product. Share your feedback share-your-feedback Your feedback drives improvements. We’d love to hear about your experience in the following channels: In-product feedback: Use the feedback options within your IDE. Community feedback: Share your thoughts in the GitHub Copilot for JetBrains IDEs issues https://github.com/microsoft/copilot-intellij-feedback/issues?utm source=changelog-intellij-feedback&utm medium=changelog&utm campaign=msbuild-2026 , or take our short survey https://aka.ms/ghcp-jb-survey .