GitHub Copilot Chat is an AI assistant extension for VS Code, allowing developers to chat with a GPT4-based model inside the editor to get help with coding tasks. With the Copilot Chat extension now publicly available on GitHub, developers are invited to explore the code, contribute, and provide their feedback. Microsoft has released the source code for the GitHub Copilot Chat extension for VS Code under the MIT license. The GitHub repository hosting the code also details telemetry collection mechanisms, addressing long-standing questions about data transparency in AI-assisted coding tools. However, Microsoft confirmed plans to transition its functionality into the open Copilot Chat extension over the coming months, consolidating all major AI features into a single open-source module. This provides the community access to the full implementation of the chat-based coding assistant, including the implementation of “agent mode,” what contextual data is sent to large language models (LLMs), and the design of system prompts. The move is considered as the first milestone in the tech giant’s plan to integrate AI features directly into the popular open-source code editor, a roadmap that was first outlined in May 2025. As the VS Code team explained previously, shifts in AI tooling landscape like the rapid growth of the open-source AI ecosystem and a more level playing field for all have reduced the need for secrecy around prompt engineering and UI design. It is important to note that the code for the original GitHub Copilot extension that powers inline code completions remains closed for now. Bill Toulas Bill Toulas is a tech writer and infosec news reporter with over a decade of experience working on various online publications, covering open-source, Linux, malware, data breach incidents, and hacks. Given the meteoric rise of LLM-assisted coding and trends like “vibe coding,” the extension has reached high levels of popularity with more than 35 million installations on the VSCode Marketplace. Visual Studio Code, launched in 2015, is one of the most widely used code editors globally and a flagship open-source project from Microsoft.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Tue, 01 Jul 2025 19:13:08 +0000