Rating certificate · AW/26-09/75626 Sept 2026
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The Register / Coding agents / GitHub Copilot CLI
Register entry · Coding agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
GitHub Copilot CLI
GitHub Copilot CLI is a terminal-native coding agent distributed as the npm package @github/copilot and the standalone copilot command. It entered public preview in September 2025 and became generally available for all Copilot subscribers on 25 February 2026. It asks for approval the first time it uses each tool, supports allow/deny tool flags and an opt-in local sandbox, and can delegate work to the cloud Copilot coding agent. Usage draws on the same Copilot plan allowance (AI Credits) as other Copilot features.
What reviewers and users praise
- Included in existing Copilot plans, so organisations already on Copilot adopt it quickly (HN, r/GithubCopilot)
- Fast feature parity with Claude Code according to users (HN)
- Terminal app felt smoother than the JetBrains plugin for some users (HN)
What they criticise
- Rate limits and premium-request/credit consumption complaints (r/GithubCopilot)
- Reported memory leaks, slowness and TUI quirks (HN)
- Reviewers found it competent but not a step change (Douglas Mendes; Vibe Coding Academy)
Experts vs the crowdneeds both scores
Experts—
Crowd59
| Price | Free, paid from $10 |
|---|---|
| Use it via | CLI |
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows |
| Licence | proprietary |
| Updated | Evidence collected 26 Sept 2026 |
How the rating was worked out
Weights for Coding agents: adoption 35%, experts 40%, crowd 25%. Pillars without enough evidence are left out and the others re-weighted. The method.
| Adoption & momentumweight 35% | 81 | GitHub stars 11k → 62 · npm weekly downloads 1.2M → 83 · 22 releases in 90 days → 100reach × 0.7 + momentum × 0.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 40% | — | Only 2 independent reviews (3 needed) |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 25% | 59 | 11 dated posts from reddit, hackernews: 6 positive · 2 mixed · 3 negative (positive + ½ mixed) ÷ n, averaged toward 50 for small samples |
| Rating | 72 | Provisional: low confidence (2 of 3 pillars, 11 community posts). |
Evidence checks. 1 GitHub issue not counted as sentiment. How evidence is checked.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: B.
B
Permission model
Asks for approval the first time each tool is used (once / for session / reject); --allow-tool, --deny-tool and --allow-all-tools flags. Local sandboxing exists but is opt-in via /sandbox enable. source
A
Data access scope
Asks the user to confirm trust in the launch directory and subdirectories before proceeding; docs warn it otherwise has the same file access as the user. source
n/e
Data storage
Prompts and code context are sent to GitHub-hosted models; CLI-specific storage and retention controls were not established from the pages read.
C
Data retention & training
From 24 April 2026 GitHub uses interaction data (inputs, outputs, code snippets, context) from Copilot Free, Pro and Pro+ users to train models unless they opt out; Copilot Business and Enterprise are not affected. source
C
Incident history (24 months)
Two advisories for @github/copilot: CVE-2026-29783 (high, dangerous shell expansion patterns enable arbitrary code execution, 2026-03-06) and CVE-2026-45033 (rated high in the global advisory DB, medium in the repo advisory; nested bare repository can execute arbitrary commands via core.fsmonitor, 2026-05). Both fixed and disclosed. source
A
Compliance
GitHub publishes SOC reports and ISO/IEC 27001 certification covering GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise via its trust center; ISO/IEC 42001 being extended across the Copilot portfolio. Whether the CLI is explicitly in audit scope was not confirmed. source
B
Transparency
Closed source (npm licence: 'SEE LICENSE IN LICENSE.md'); public GitHub repo with issues and detailed per-version release notes; GitHub Docs coverage. source
The experts
2 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- mixed
Copilot, most of the time, worked well and was a good assistant in the terminal, but it did not feel like a game changer
Douglas Mendes (DEV Community) · 27 Feb 2026 · dev.to - mixed
The sidebar makes GitHub Copilot CLI's existing model easier to navigate. It does not yet change the model itself.
Jules Boiteux (Vibe Coding Academy) · 11 Aug 2026 · vibecodingacademy.ai
The crowd
11 coded posts from reddit, hackernews.
6 positive2 mixed3 negative
- negative
Copilot cli consumed 20% of my premium requests in one request
r/GithubCopilot · 18 Oct 2025 · reddit.com - positive
The GitHub Copilot CLI team is cooking!
r/GithubCopilot · 24 Nov 2025 · reddit.com - negative
Problem is, Copilot CLI doesn't really supports free or mini models. You have very tight choice of models.
HN comment · 27 Dec 2025 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
the copilot cli adoption in the last 2 weeks is spreading light wild fire. Codex 5.3, a good instructions file and it works.
HN comment · 26 Feb 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
I'm very happy to stay in copilot cli since I have a copilot plan rather than claude or gpt.
r/GithubCopilot · 6 Mar 2026 · reddit.com - negative
That's it. I am cancelling this joke. Pro+ rate limited for 32 hours while using copilot cli for an hour.
r/GithubCopilot · 14 Apr 2026 · reddit.com - positive
Quite honestly I love the GitHub Copilot CLI.
HN comment · 27 Apr 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Copilot CLI is pretty good, honestly. Most new features in Claude Code get cloned by Copilot CLI within a couple weeks.
HN comment · 27 Apr 2026 · news.ycombinator.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | Free | CLI included; 2,000 completions and 50 chat requests per month. |
| Copilot Pro | $10 / monthly | CLI included; $15/month in AI Credits ($10 base + $5 flex). |
| Copilot Pro+ | $39 / monthly | CLI included; $70/month in AI Credits. |
| Copilot Max | $100 / monthly | CLI included; $200/month in AI Credits. |
Recent changes
- 22 Sept 2026
v1.0.88 released (22 stable releases since 28 June 2026). source
- 23 Jun 2026
New terminal interface for Copilot CLI generally available. source
- 17 Jun 2026
GitHub Copilot for JetBrains moves to Copilot CLI as its default agent harness. source
- 24 Apr 2026
Interaction data from Free/Pro/Pro+ users used for model training unless opted out. source
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Coding agents.
OpenCodeAnomaly75
Claude CodeAnthropic73
Zed (Agent Panel)Zed Industries73
GitHub CopilotGitHub (Microsoft)72
Codex (CLI and app)OpenAI71
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.