Installing the GitHub Copilot AI Coding Assistant (in Your Favorite IDE)

To use GitHub Copilot, often referred to simply as Copilot, you need a GitHub account. GitHub Copilot is a paid service, but students and teachers can use it for free through GitHub Education.

Copilot is a plugin/extension that installs directly in your favorite IDE:

• In VS Code, install it via the Extensions tab (Ctrl+Shift+X)
• In JetBrains IDEs, go to File → Settings → Plugins
• In Eclipse, use the Eclipse Marketplace (Help → Eclipse Marketplace) to install Copilot4eclipse.

Once installed, you’ll be asked to sign in with your GitHub account. After logging in, Copilot will be automatically activated. Code suggestions will start appearing in your IDE, and you’ll also have access to a chat interface.

For more detailed instructions:

• For JetBrains, Visual Studio, etc.:
  See the official guide: Installing the GitHub Copilot extension in your environment Choose the tab that matches your IDE.

• For Eclipse:
  Visit the installation page for Copilot4Eclipse and/or watch the beginning of this video.

Since Copilot and VS Code are both developed by GitHub (owned by Microsoft), VS Code offers the best user experience for Copilot. That said, Copilot also works very well with JetBrains IDEs.

The official GitHub Copilot documentation is available on GitHub Docs.

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Now go to the next section: 1. Getting Started with the AI Coding Assistant, or return to the Home page

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