The GitHub Copilot SDK has entered tech preview. The SDK can be used to build the orchestration layer for agentic workflows, handling  planning, tool/MCP calls, state and streaming. 

Copilot is GitHub's AI-based code helper system. It was originally based on OpenAI's Codex, but now has multi-model support meaning developers can select from multiple models.  

The new SDK exposes the same engine behind Copilot CLI. The CLI provides AI-powered coding assistance directly to the command line, enabling developers to build, debug, and understand code through natural language directly from the terminal. The new SDK exposes the agent runtime programmatically. The developer defines the agent behavior, and Copilot handles the planning, tool invocation, and file edits.

At the moment it can be used from Python, TypeScript, Go, and .NET. It can manage context across turns, orchestrate tools and commands, route between models, integrate MCP servers, and handle permissions, safety boundaries, and failure modes. 

Developers can choose a model and switch between models at any time. The developers say the support for different programming languages makes it possible to integrate Copilot into any environment:

"You can build GUIs that use AI workflows, create personal tools that level up your productivity, or run custom internal agents in your enterprise workflows."  

The team says they have already used it to build things like YouTube chapter generators, custom GUIs for their agents, speech-to-command workflows to run apps on their desktops, and summarizing tools.  

They suggest developers think of the Copilot SDK as an execution platform that lets you reuse the same agentic loop behind the Copilot CLI, while GitHub handles authentication, model management, MCP servers, custom agents, and chat sessions plus streaming. 

By default, the SDK will operate the Copilot CLI in the equivalent of --allow-all being passed to the CLI, enabling all first-party tools, which means that the agents can perform a wide range of actions, including file system operations, Git operations, and web requests. You can customize tool availability by configuring the SDK client options to enable and disable specific tools.  

Use of the tool requires an existing GitHub Copilot subscription, and billing is based on the same model as the Copilot CLI, with each prompt being counted towards your premium request quota. It also supports BYOK (Bring Your Own Key), so developers can configure the SDK to use their own API keys from supported LLM providers (e.g. OpenAI, Azure, Anthropic) to access models through those providers.

The SDK is available in technical preview now on GitHub.

More Information

Copilot SDK On GitHub

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