Marcel.L

Posted on Nov 5

Tune GitHub Copilot Settings in VS Code

#vscode #githubcopilot #tutorial

Tune GitHub Copilot & Chat in VS Code

If you are rolling out GitHub Copilot across a team, the settings surface in VS Code can feel sprawling. This guide breaks the options into digestible groups, highlights what each toggle does, and finishes with a comprehensive settings.json you can paste into a workspace policy or user profile.

Why It Matters

Teams gain consistent Copilot behaviour across devices and projects.
You can audit which preview or experimental capabilities are enabled before a rollout.
Structured configuration keeps security-sensitive features (like tool auto-approve) under control.

Key Concepts or Pillars

Group Copilot settings by experience: editor completions, chat, agents, and workflow glue.
Use workspace settings to enforce policy, user settings for personal preferences.
Keep an annotated baseline JSON so teammates can diff intentional changes.

Walk the Settings Groups

General (chat / AI UI toggles)

chat.commandCenter.enabled
workbench.settings.showAISearchToggle
workbench.commandPalette.experimental.askChatLocation
search.searchView.semanticSearchBehavior
search.searchView.keywordSuggestions

Code Editing (completions & next edit suggestions)

github.copilot.editor.enableCodeActions
github.copilot.renameSuggestions.triggerAutomatically
github.copilot.enable
github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled
editor.inlineSuggest.edits.allowCodeShifting
editor.inlineSuggest.edits.renderSideBySide
github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.fixes
editor.inlineSuggest.minShowDelay

Chat (behaviour, fonts, context, terminals, models)

github.copilot.chat.localeOverride
github.copilot.chat.useProjectTemplates
github.copilot.chat.scopeSelection
github.copilot.chat.terminalChatLocation
chat.detectParticipant.enabled
chat.checkpoints.enabled
chat.checkpoints.showFileChanges
chat.editRequests
chat.editor.fontFamily
chat.editor.fontSize
chat.editor.fontWeight
chat.editor.lineHeight
chat.editor.wordWrap
chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRemoval
chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRetry
chat.editing.autoAcceptDelay
chat.fontFamily
chat.fontSize
chat.notifyWindowOnConfirmation
chat.notifyWindowOnResponseReceived
chat.tools.terminal.autoReplyToPrompts
chat.tools.terminal.terminalProfile.<platform>
chat.useAgentsMdFile
chat.math.enabled
github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled
chat.emptyState.history.enabled
chat.sendElementsToChat.enabled
chat.useNestedAgentsMdFiles
github.copilot.chat.customOAIModels
github.copilot.chat.edits.suggestRelatedFilesFromGitHistory

Agent Mode (including MCP / auto-approve controls)

chat.agent.enabled
chat.agent.maxRequests
github.copilot.chat.agent.autoFix
chat.mcp.access
chat.mcp.discovery.enabled
chat.mcp.gallery.enabled
chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove
chat.tools.global.autoApprove
chat.agent.thinkingStyle
chat.mcp.autoStart
chat.agent.todoList.position
github.copilot.chat.newWorkspaceCreation.enabled
github.copilot.chat.agent.thinkingTool
github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold

Agent Sessions

chat.agentSessionsViewLocation

Inline Chat

inlineChat.finishOnType
inlineChat.holdToSpeech
editor.inlineSuggest.syntaxHighlightingEnabled
inlineChat.lineEmptyHint
inlineChat.lineNaturalLanguageHint
github.copilot.chat.editor.temporalContext.enabled

Code Review

github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.enabled
github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.instructions

Custom Instructions / Prompt Files / Chat Modes

github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useInstructionFiles
chat.instructionsFilesLocations
github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions
github.copilot.chat.pullRequestDescriptionGeneration.instructions
chat.promptFiles
chat.promptFilesLocations
chat.modeFilesLocations

The VS Code Copilot customisation guide walks through instruction files, reusable prompts, and custom chat modes in depth. See "Customize chat to your workflow" on the Visual Studio Code docs.

Debugging

github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled
github.copilot.chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled

Testing

github.copilot.chat.generateTests.codeLens
github.copilot.chat.setupTests.enabled

Notebooks

notebook.experimental.generate
github.copilot.chat.edits.newNotebook.enabled
github.copilot.chat.notebook.followCellExecution.enabled

Accessibility (chat-related)

inlineChat.accessibleDiffView
accessibility.signals.chatRequestSent
accessibility.signals.chatResponseReceived
accessibility.signals.chatEditModifiedFile
accessibility.signals.chatUserActionRequired
accessibility.voice.keywordActivation
accessibility.voice.autoSynthesize
accessibility.voice.speechTimeout

Tip: To edit these values directly, open the Command Palette and run "Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)" in VS Code. The full Copilot settings reference is available in the official documentation.

Additional Insight or Use Case

Rolling Copilot out to a mixed environment? Keep a shared settings.json in .vscode/ for regulated projects, then encourage developers to extend personal preferences in their user profile. This separation lets you lock down agent tooling (for example, disallowing destructive shell commands) while still letting individuals experiment with chat font sizing or inline suggestion delays.

Practical Steps or How-To

Review the grouped settings above and mark which ones are mandatory for your team.
Copy the sample JSON below into .vscode/settings.json (workspace) or your user profile.
Trim the comments or keys you do not need, then commit the file so teammates inherit the same defaults.
Revisit the configuration quarterly; many Copilot features are still in preview and can change behaviour.

Prefer a ready-to-use file? Download the JSON directly and drop it into .vscode/settings.json.

{
  // ---------- General ----------
  "chat.commandCenter.enabled": true,
  "workbench.settings.showAISearchToggle": true,
  "workbench.commandPalette.experimental.askChatLocation": "chatView",
  "search.searchView.semanticSearchBehavior": "manual",
  "search.searchView.keywordSuggestions": false,

  // ---------- Code editing (Copilot completions / NES) ----------
  "github.copilot.editor.enableCodeActions": true,
  "github.copilot.renameSuggestions.triggerAutomatically": true,
  "github.copilot.enable": {
    "*": true,
    "plaintext": false,
    "markdown": false,
    "scminput": false,
  },
  "github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled": true,
  "editor.inlineSuggest.edits.allowCodeShifting": "always",
  "editor.inlineSuggest.edits.renderSideBySide": "auto",
  "github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.fixes": true,
  "editor.inlineSuggest.minShowDelay": 0,

  // ---------- Chat ----------
  "github.copilot.chat.localeOverride": "auto",
  "github.copilot.chat.useProjectTemplates": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.scopeSelection": false,
  "github.copilot.chat.terminalChatLocation": "chatView",
  "chat.detectParticipant.enabled": true,
  "chat.checkpoints.enabled": true,
  "chat.checkpoints.showFileChanges": false,
  "chat.editRequests": "inline",
  "chat.editor.fontFamily": "default",
  "chat.editor.fontSize": 14,
  "chat.editor.fontWeight": "default",
  "chat.editor.lineHeight": 0,
  "chat.editor.wordWrap": "off",
  "chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRemoval": true,
  "chat.editing.confirmEditRequestRetry": true,
  "chat.editing.autoAcceptDelay": 0,
  "chat.fontFamily": "default",
  "chat.fontSize": 13,
  "chat.notifyWindowOnConfirmation": true,
  "chat.notifyWindowOnResponseReceived": true,
  "chat.tools.terminal.autoReplyToPrompts": false,
  "chat.tools.terminal.terminalProfile.windows": "",
  "chat.tools.terminal.terminalProfile.linux": "",
  "chat.tools.terminal.terminalProfile.osx": "",
  "chat.useAgentsMdFile": true,
  "chat.math.enabled": false,
  "github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled": false,
  "chat.emptyState.history.enabled": false,
  "chat.sendElementsToChat.enabled": true,
  "chat.useNestedAgentsMdFiles": false,
  "github.copilot.chat.customOAIModels": [],
  "github.copilot.chat.edits.suggestRelatedFilesFromGitHistory": true,

  // ---------- Agent mode (incl. MCP) ----------
  "chat.agent.enabled": true,
  "chat.agent.maxRequests": 25,
  "github.copilot.chat.agent.autoFix": true,
  "chat.mcp.access": true,
  "chat.mcp.discovery.enabled": false,
  "chat.mcp.gallery.enabled": false,
  "chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove": {
    "rm": false,
    "rmdir": false,
    "del": false,
    "kill": false,
    "curl": false,
    "wget": false,
    "eval": false,
    "chmod": false,
    "chown": false,
    "/^Remove-Item\\b/i": false,
  },
  "chat.tools.global.autoApprove": false,
  "chat.agent.thinkingStyle": "fixedScrolling",
  "chat.mcp.autoStart": "newAndOutdated",
  "chat.agent.todoList.position": "default",
  "github.copilot.chat.newWorkspaceCreation.enabled": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.agent.thinkingTool": false,
  "github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold": 128,

  // ---------- Agent sessions ----------
  "chat.agentSessionsViewLocation": "disabled",

  // ---------- Inline chat ----------
  "inlineChat.finishOnType": false,
  "inlineChat.holdToSpeech": true,
  "editor.inlineSuggest.syntaxHighlightingEnabled": true,
  "inlineChat.lineEmptyHint": false,
  "inlineChat.lineNaturalLanguageHint": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.editor.temporalContext.enabled": false,

  // ---------- Code review ----------
  "github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.enabled": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.reviewSelection.instructions": [],

  // ---------- Custom instructions / prompt files / chat modes ----------
  "github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useInstructionFiles": true,
  "chat.instructionsFilesLocations": { ".github/instructions": true },
  "github.copilot.chat.commitMessageGeneration.instructions": [],
  "github.copilot.chat.pullRequestDescriptionGeneration.instructions": [],
  "chat.promptFiles": true,
  "chat.promptFilesLocations": { ".github/prompts": true },
  "chat.modeFilesLocations": { ".github/chatmodes": true },

  // ---------- Debugging ----------
  "github.copilot.chat.startDebugging.enabled": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.copilotDebugCommand.enabled": true,

  // ---------- Testing ----------
  "github.copilot.chat.generateTests.codeLens": false,
  "github.copilot.chat.setupTests.enabled": true,

  // ---------- Notebooks ----------
  "notebook.experimental.generate": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.edits.newNotebook.enabled": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.notebook.followCellExecution.enabled": false,

  // ---------- Accessibility (chat-related) ----------
  "inlineChat.accessibleDiffView": "auto",
  "accessibility.signals.chatRequestSent": {
    "sound": "auto",
    "announcement": "auto",
  },
  "accessibility.signals.chatResponseReceived": { "sound": "auto" },
  "accessibility.signals.chatEditModifiedFile": { "sound": "auto" },
  "accessibility.signals.chatUserActionRequired": {
    "sound": "auto",
    "announcement": "auto",
  },
  "accessibility.voice.keywordActivation": "off",
  "accessibility.voice.autoSynthesize": "off",
  "accessibility.voice.speechTimeout": 1200,
}

Tips, Tricks, or Best Practices

Keep destructive shell commands marked as false in chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove to prevent unintended actions.
Disable Copilot for filetypes like markdown or plaintext if you prefer to write prose unaided.
Pair the chat.instructionsFilesLocations setting with a .github/instructions folder so all contributors see the same guidance.
Re-enable github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled only after validating access controls for your repositories.

Conclusion

With the settings grouped and a baseline JSON in hand, you can standardise Copilot across your workspace in minutes. Tailor the defaults for security, productivity, or experimentation, then iterate as the Copilot feature set evolves.

Author

Marcel.L

Dual Microsoft MVP DevOps + Azure | DevOps Architect | Technical speaker focused on Microsoft technologies, IaC and automation in Azure. Find me on GitHub: https://github.com/Pwd9000-ML

Like, share, follow me on: 🐙 GitHub | 🐧 X/Twitter | 👾 LinkedIn

Date: 05-11-2025

DEV Community

Tune GitHub Copilot Settings in VS Code

Tune GitHub Copilot & Chat in VS Code

Why It Matters

Key Concepts or Pillars