GitHub: New AI coding agent fixes bugs by assignment

At its developer conference Build, Microsoft proclaimed the age of AI agents and one of these agents, which is supposed to perform tasks independently, is the GitHub Copilot Coding Agent. Microsoft promises that this agent has now outgrown its previous role as a cue generator in the form of an AI assistant and should have developed into a fully-fledged programmer. Developers can assign complete tasks to the AI in GitHub, which it completes and then submits as a draft pull request for approval.

According to a blog post, the coding agent should be able to add new functions and fix errors. It can also extend tests, take care of code refactoring and improve documentation. However, Microsoft does qualify that it is primarily recommended for tasks with low to medium complexity. And it apparently works best when the codebase is already well tested. In the blog post, it is described as a useful aid that can, for example, take over tasks that developers find boring.

In the end, it's the human who decides

To edit the code, the AI first boots a virtual machine, clones the repository from which the code originates and configures the development environment. The code is then analyzed using Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and GitHub Code Search. Decisions made by the AI are documented – in session logs, which can then be read. And at the end of the process, the human should then decide on the pull requests – and can also object to the submitted code and ask for improvements or reject it.

Microsoft vows that existing branch protection guidelines will be respected and can only be pushed to self-created branches. In addition, Internet access is restricted to trusted destinations. Repository rules and organizational guidelines are considered.

AI also interprets screenshots

Tasks, such as fixing bugs, can also be provided with screenshots. The AI can interpret these images, it says. When the task is assigned, the Copilot appears as a user in the list as usual.

The GitHub Copilot Coding Agent is available for Copilot Enterprise and Copilot Pro+ customers. It can be activated in the desired repositories. For Enterprise customers, this must be done by the administrator. Microsoft's Coding Agent joins corresponding offerings from its competitors, such as Codex from OpenAI.

(mki)