Additional Copilot policy controls for PRs that it creates and/or reviews

[jml6m]

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Product Feedback

Copilot Feature Area

Copilot in GitHub

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Summary

Add repository/org/enterprise-level policy controls on GitHub.com that let admins require specific Copilot behaviors around PR comment handling—both for PRs created by Copilot coding agent and for PRs reviewed by Copilot code review.

Problem

Today, we can’t enforce (as a policy / merge requirement) that Copilot:

1. Addresses all review comments on PRs that Copilot creates (tagged or untagged), either by pushing changes or by explicitly replying with rationale when disagreeing.
2. Responds to follow-up comments on Copilot’s own review comments.

This creates “dead threads” and ambiguity on whether feedback was considered, especially when teams treat Copilot as an autonomous contributor/reviewer. Quite often tagging @copilot is required.

Additionally, Copilot code review currently does not see replies to its own review comments and will not respond:

• Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/use-copilot-agents/request-a-code-review/use-code-review

Desired controls (admin-configurable)

A) Copilot-created PRs

• Require Copilot to address all review threads before merge
  • “Address” = either push commits that incorporate the feedback OR post a reply explaining why it won’t change.
• Configuration scope:
  • repo / org / enterprise
• Options:
  • apply only to PRs where author is Copilot
  • apply to all PRs authored by bots / GitHub Apps
  • apply only when PR has label (e.g., copilot) or was created via “Create PR with Copilot”

B) Copilot code review participation

• Allow Copilot to observe and respond to replies on its own review comments
  • If someone replies to Copilot’s review comment (tagged or untagged), Copilot should be able to respond and/or revise its suggestion.
• Options:
  • “Respond when mentioned” (current-ish pattern) vs “Respond to any reply” (new control)
  • rate limiting and opt-out per PR

Why this matters

Reduces manual “thread shepherding” by humans

Workarounds today (not ideal)

• Manual process requirements (“always tag @copilot”, “always resolve threads by hand”)
• Custom Actions to fail on unresolved threads (still doesn’t make Copilot respond, and can’t make it see replies to its own comments)

[github-actions[bot]]

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