At the Build 2024 developer conference, Microsoft introduced the Copilot extension, which allows developers to use third-party extensions for GitHub Copilot.

Microsoft Build 2024 is all about AI. GitHub’s Copilot also gets an AI injection with the launch of the Copilot Extension. As the name suggests, Copilot Extensions allow developers to extend Copilot with third-party capabilities. The extensions are made available in the GitHub Marketplace, but developers can also create their own private extensions and integrate them into their internal systems and APIs.

GitHub Copilot was first released in October 2021 and expanded to a generally available enterprise version in February. Two months later, GitHub Copilot Workspace, an AI-native developer environment, was previewed.

Third Party Extensions

The new Copilot Exentions feature aims to speed up developers’ workflows by allowing them to communicate in natural language without leaving the GitHub window or their IDEs. Third-party extensions include DataStax, Docker, LambdaTest, LaunchDarkly, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft Azure and Teams, MongoDB, Octopus Deploy, Pangea, Pinecone, Product Science, ReadMe, Sentry, and Stripe.

These extensions vary by partner, with some requiring access to their documentation in Copilot and others requiring action. Developers can create and integrate their own extensions, but extensions are also available in the GitHub Marketplace.