Hands-On with GitHub Copilot’s New ‘Autopilot’ Mode in VS Code

We all know and use GitHub Copilot. It’s been a staple in VS Code for a while, connecting us to various LLMs to speed up our workflow. But the latest update just dropped something the community has been eagerly waiting for: a fully autonomous agent mode . Dubbed Autopilot (currently in Preview), this new feature fundamentally changes how we interact with the IDE. Instead of the traditional back-and-forth prompting for every single function, Autopilot handles end-to-end code implementation based on a single initial prompt. How Autopilot Changes the Game Before this update, coding with AI meant dealing with dozens of micro-interruptions. You’d ask for a function, wait, paste it, fix a bug, and prompt again. With Autopilot engaged, the process becomes entirely hands-off. Once you give it a directive, the agent takes over to: Organize and create its own task list. Implement the code structure. Execute necessary terminal commands. Verify and debug its own errors. Deliver the final, working