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GitHub Copilot extension: Overview

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GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered pair programmer extension for Azure Data Studio that provides you with context-aware code completions, suggestions, and even entire code snippets. This powerful tool helps developers write code more efficiently, reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks, and minimize errors.

What is GitHub Copilot?

GitHub Copilot for Azure Data Studio can be used in any editor window. To use GitHub Copilot, you must have an active internet connection. You can use GitHub Copilot in the following ways:

  1. When you type code in the editor, GitHub Copilot provides suggestions in real-time.
  2. When you type a natural language comment, GitHub Copilot provides suggestions for code that corresponds to the comment.

To accept a suggestion, press Tab. To reject a suggestion, press Esc.

At any time, pressing Ctrl+Enter opens the GitHub Copilot Completions Panel, which provides suggestions for code based on the context of the editor.

GitHub Copilot chat isn't currently available for Azure Data Studio.

Install the GitHub Copilot extension

To get started, all you need is Azure Data Studio version 1.44 or later, and a GitHub Copilot subscription.

Tip

GitHub Copilot is free for verified students and for maintainers of popular open source projects on GitHub.

  1. Select the Extensions Icon to view the available extensions.

    Screenshot showing the Extension manager icon.

  2. Search for the GitHub Copilot extension and select it to view its details. Select Install to add the extension.

How GitHub Copilot works

GitHub Copilot works by utilizing advanced machine learning models trained on a vast dataset of publicly available code from GitHub repositories. As you type code, the AI analyzes the context and provides relevant suggestions in real-time. You can receive suggestions also by writing a natural language comment describing what you want the code to do.

The GitHub Copilot extension in Azure Data Studio uses context from the editor to provide suggestions. For example, if you're writing a query that joins two tables, GitHub Copilot suggests the join condition from columns in the open editor, other files in the workspace, and common syntax patterns.

Privacy

Your code is yours. We follow responsible practices in accordance with our Privacy Statement to ensure that your code snippets aren't used as suggested code for other users of GitHub Copilot.