| title | About agent management | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| shortTitle | Agent management | ||
| intro | Use one centralized control page to jump between agent sessions, check progress, and stay in control without losing your place. | ||
| product | {% data reusables.gated-features.copilot-cloud-agent %}<br><a href="https://github.com/features/copilot/plans?ref_product=copilot&ref_type=purchase&ref_style=button" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary mt-3 mr-3 no-underline"><span>Sign up for {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %}</span> {% octicon "link-external" height:16 %}</a> | ||
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| contentType | concepts | ||
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AI agents are autonomous systems that can evaluate their environment, make decisions, and take actions to complete tasks. Agents can break down complex tasks into steps, use various tools and resources, plan their approach, and adapt based on human feedback until they accomplish their assigned objective.
Agents bring automation and assistance to every stage of the software development process on {% data variables.product.github %}. You can run multiple agent sessions concurrently, allowing you to efficiently delegate work items.
Alongside {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %}, you can use {% data variables.product.prodname_anthropic_claude %} and {% data variables.product.prodname_openai_codex %}, giving you more flexibility and choice to find the right agent for a task. See AUTOTITLE.
{% data variables.product.company_short %} partners can also offer their own agents as {% data variables.copilot.agent_apps %}, which you install as {% data variables.product.prodname_github_apps %} and trigger from issues, pull requests, and the Agents UI. See AUTOTITLE.
Utilizing {% data variables.copilot.custom_agents_short %} you can build out a team of task-specific agents with customized system prompts to handle simpler tasks like writing tests and refactoring, giving you bandwidth to prioritize problem-solving and collaboration. See AUTOTITLE.
Model choice allows you to choose from a selection of AI models to use with your agents, each with its own particular strengths. See AUTOTITLE.
To learn more about {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %}, see AUTOTITLE.
{% data reusables.copilot.cloud-agent.agent-management-intro %}
From the Agents tab, you can:
- Kick off new agent tasks: Select an AI model of your choice, and optionally choose from third-party agents or {% data variables.copilot.custom_agents_short %} best suited for the task. See AUTOTITLE.
- Monitor live session logs: Once the agent starts working, you can click any agent session to open the session log and follow its progress and thought process in real time.
- Track active sessions: You can view all active agent sessions that have been started in the repository.
- Steer agents mid-session: If you realize you didn't scope a request correctly, or want the agent to use a specific tool or service, you can step in and provide steering input without stopping the run. Steering consumes {% data variables.product.prodname_ai_credits_short %} per message. See AUTOTITLE.
- Open a session in {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode_shortname %} or {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli %}: When you want to start working on changes to an agent session in your local development environment, click {% octicon "vscode" aria-label="VS Code" %} Open in {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode_shortname %} or {% octicon "agent" aria-label="Agent" %} Continue in {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli %} to bring the session to your local machine. {% data reusables.copilot.cloud-agent.use-latest-vscode %}
- Review and merge agent code: Once the agent completes a session, you can jump to the pull request to review the changes, request further improvements, or approve and merge. See AUTOTITLE.
- Set up {% data variables.copilot.copilot_automations %}: Run {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} automatically, on a schedule or in response to events such as an issue being opened. See AUTOTITLE.
- Query your past sessions: You can search and reference your past agent sessions using natural language from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli_short %} or {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode_shortname %}. See AUTOTITLE.
To start managing agents, see AUTOTITLE.