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GitHub Copilot|Update··Abhishek Kapoor

Copilot can now approve pull requests. The assessment in the comment is not the approval

Since 1 September 2026 every Copilot code review includes an approval assessment. A real Approve that counts toward required reviews stays off until an admin turns it on.

A pull-request review panel with a machine stamp and a human stamp, only the human stamp covering the merge path
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On 1 September 2026 GitHub let Copilot code review approve pull requests. The changelog splits one headline into two behaviors. Every Copilot review now includes an approval assessment in the overview comment. That sentence does not move the merge button.

A formal Approve is a second switch. It is off by default. It is in public preview for Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise. When an admin enables it, GitHub says Copilot can submit an approval that counts toward the repository’s required-approvals rule the same way a teammate’s approval would.

Assessment is advice. Approval is a merge input

  • Approval assessment: always in the overview comment. GitHub says it does not count toward merge requirements.
  • Copilot Approve: opt-in. Counts toward required approvals when enabled.
  • New commits after a Copilot approval dismiss that approval, the same way a human review is dismissed. You can request a fresh Copilot review.
  • Repository admins can limit which file paths Copilot is allowed to approve.

GitHub’s code-review docs repeat the default: Copilot leaves a Comment review, not Approve or Request changes, unless you configure otherwise. Comment reviews do not satisfy required approvals and do not block the pull request.

Three admin levels, and one loop you should not close

  • Enterprise: leave approvals off everywhere, or let organizations decide.
  • Organization: turn approvals on org-wide, let repository admins decide, enable specific repositories, or turn them off.
  • Repository: on or off, plus the file-path allow list.

The procurement risk is a closed loop: the Copilot coding agent opens a pull request, Copilot code review approves it, and the required-approvals count goes green. GitHub’s changelog does not forbid that pairing. Your branch rules can still require a named human, a CODEOWNERS path, or a second reviewer. Write that rule down before anyone enables the preview.

  1. Leave approvals off on repositories where Copilot or another agent is also the author.
  2. If you enable them, start with docs and test fixtures via the path list, not authentication or billing code.
  3. Keep a human required-reviewer on production paths. A Copilot approval is not a status check and not a deployment gate.
  4. Read this next to the 28 August Copilot admin clocks. Balanced review defaults land on 28 September 2026 and will change usage on the same product.