GitHub Unveils Copilot Extensions: Integrating Third-Party Apps with Copilot Chat through Plugin Support

Microsoft is unveiling GitHub Copilot Extensions, allowing developers to seamlessly integrate their preferred third-party tools and services without leaving the coding environment or GitHub’s website. Through GitHub Copilot Chat, developers can engage with supported applications to execute actions, obtain additional context, generate files, create pull requests, and more. Initial integrations feature GitHub Copilot for Azure, DataStax, Docker, LambdaTest, LaunchDarkly, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft Azure and Teams, MongoDB, Octopus Deploy, Pangea, Pinecone, Product Science, ReadMe, Sentry, and Stripe.

Currently, GitHub Copilot Extensions is available in private preview.

Just as Slack positioned itself as the hub for workplace collaboration, GitHub aims to become the go-to platform for developers. By minimizing context switching, GitHub creates a streamlined workflow that balances access to private and open-source repositories with AI capabilities that enhance creativity and introduce tools beyond its core functions.

Microsoft’s Copilot plays a pivotal role in this vision, evolving GitHub from a coding assistant into a comprehensive workspace development environment. Given the significant role AI now plays in programming, extending its functionality to manage external services is a logical next step.

For example, GitHub Copilot for Azure serves as an AI assistant that streamlines cloud operations. "By calling on GitHub Copilot for Azure directly in Copilot Chat, developers receive guidance on various Azure-related queries—from selecting an Azure service to deploying a React app and choosing the best Azure database for Django," notes Mario Rodriguez, GitHub’s Senior Vice President of Product. "When it’s time to deploy, GitHub Copilot for Azure walks developers through the steps for a successful launch."

"This is the future of software development, where developers spend less time searching and more time building," states Tillman Elser, Sentry’s Engineering Manager. "By using natural language, they can write code, access data, and address challenges all within a single intuitive workflow."

GitHub plans to introduce additional extensions in the future. Developers can explore the existing offerings in the GitHub Marketplace, with support available in GitHub Copilot Chat on GitHub.com, Visual Studio, and VS Code.