GitHub is making it easier for software developers to make use of AI agents – and manage them like co-workers toiling in the background.
The company’s new "agents panel" allows developers to delegate tasks to the AI-powered Copilot from any page on github.com via a prompt, rather than navigating over to GitHub Issues – a process it says is "breaking your flow."
Earlier this year, GitHub unveiled a new coding agent designed to tackle "low-to-medium complexity” tasks. The aim with the new "mission control" tool is to help developers better manage AI.
A pop-up panel will allow developers to work with such AI agents more easily by delegating coding tasks and tracking progress wherever a developer is working in GitHub, with the Copilot agent working in the background before tagging the user for review when complete.
"If the past year has underscored anything, it’s that AI agents are becoming a bigger part of developers’ day-to-day workflows," staff product manager Tim Rogers wrote in a blog post.
"Copilot coding agent works like a member of your team, and it’s received a great response from developers so far," Rogers added. "But we know that not all of your work lives in GitHub Issues."
Previous to this Agents panel tool, developers using Copilot could allocate work for agents either by assigning an issue, using the pull requests extension for Visual Studio Code, or by triggering tasks from compatible apps that integrate with GitHub via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
How GitHub’s new ‘mission control’ tool works
The new Agents panel is essentially a popup overlay that lets a developer trigger work by the Copilot agent, track existing tasks and review pull requests, all without leaving their current work setting, wherever that may be on the GitHub website.
To access the panel, click the "agents" button in the right of the navigation bar.
"You can start a new Copilot task from the new Agents panel with a simple prompt," Rogers noted.
"Just open the panel from any page on GitHub, describe your goal in natural language, and select the relevant repository. Copilot will then take it from there and start creating a plan, drafting changes, running tests, and then preparing a pull request."
The new feature is available on GitHub today in a public preview for all paid Copilot subscribers, the post added.
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