GitHub Copilot app

The GitHub Copilot app is a desktop application for agent-driven development that brings parallel agent sessions, native GitHub integration, and pull request lifecycle management into one place. GitHub introduced it at Microsoft Build 2026 as an agent-native desktop experience built on GitHub. The app is in technical preview.

What It Is

The app gives developers one place to direct AI agents across parallel workstreams instead of switching between terminals, IDEs, and browser tabs, according to GitHub. From a single My Work view, you can see active sessions, issues, pull requests, and background automations across connected repositories. GitHub says it is built on the Copilot CLI and integrates natively with GitHub, so repositories, branches, and CI pipelines work out of the box.

Parallel Agent Sessions

GitHub says every session runs in its own git worktree, a real, isolated copy of your branch, so parallel agents do not step on each other. The app manages each worktree for you, handling setup and cleanup without manual branch juggling. Whether you start from a prompt or an issue, Copilot pulls the context it needs from existing issues, pull requests, and the repos you have connected.

Canvases and Agent Experience

Alongside the app, GitHub introduced canvases: bidirectional work surfaces where people and agents operate together. The blog states a canvas can show a plan, pull request, browser session, terminal, deployment, dashboard, or workflow state. Agents update the canvas as they work, and developers can edit, reorder, approve, or redirect that work on the same surface. GitHub frames chat as where you instruct and reason through ambiguity, and canvases as where that intent becomes inspectable work you can steer and verify.

Sandboxes and Agent Merge

Cloud and local sandboxes give agents a bounded place to run code, inspect results, and test changes. GitHub says local sandboxing runs Copilot in an isolated environment on your machine with restricted filesystem, network, and system access, while each cloud sandbox runs in an ephemeral Linux environment hosted by GitHub. Agent Merge then carries a pull request through review: it monitors CI, tracks required reviewers, addresses failing checks, and merges once your conditions are met, with the developer deciding how far automation goes.

Platform and Availability

The app ships as native builds for macOS, Windows, and Linux. GitHub describes it as in technical preview, with early access opening on a rolling basis for eligible subscribers. The homepage positions it as part of a broader system that spans the terminal, the cloud, code review, automations, and partner-built agent apps running on one shared agentic runtime.