GitHub Copilot in Slack and Microsoft Teams: public preview of an improved integration

GitHub has released a public preview update to GitHub Copilot for Slack and Microsoft Teams. Copilot can now make use of more context from an ongoing conversation – in Slack, this includes shared files, attachments, and links to messages, while in Teams it includes embedded images, forwarded messages, and channel or thread history. According to the company, before creating a new issue, Copilot checks whether a similar entry already exists, and maintains a backlink to the original conversation so that the context of a decision is easy to trace.

Users can switch the model for the next message, and this choice remains in effect for the rest of the conversation. In Slack, it is also possible to set default owners and repositories, which makes it easier to work across multiple repositories and shared conversations.

The company also describes reliability improvements for longer-running tasks: a clearer status of the implementation plan, better handling of interrupted or stale responses, and more predictable behavior when resuming an inactive conversation. In Teams, Copilot more reliably retains channel thread history, reduces duplicate responses, and handles large channels better; in Slack, repository selection behavior was fixed, and repository switching was secured so that replaced sessions can no longer affect the original repository.

The public preview is available to organizations with GitHub Copilot Business and GitHub Copilot Enterprise plans. According to the company, usage counts toward existing Copilot entitlements and can be managed using existing Copilot cloud agent budgets. Some features are being rolled out gradually and may not yet be available in all workspaces.