GitHub has started rolling out connectors for Copilot, a way to link outside services such as Slack and Sentry to its coding agent in a single sign-in, the company said in a changelog post on Oct. 28. The feature is in public preview on all Copilot plans.
Connectors are GitHub-verified MCP servers. MCP, or Model Context Protocol, is a common standard that lets AI agents call tools and read data from other software. Until now, GitHub wrote, giving Copilot that kind of context meant “finding a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, setting up a sign-in, and repeating that in each tool you use.”
With connectors, a developer picks a service, signs in and is done. “There’s no server to find, nothing to install locally, and no credentials to manage,” the post says. Copilot keeps the user signed in in the background.
Where it works
A service connected in one place works across the GitHub Copilot app, Copilot CLI, VS Code, Copilot in the cloud and GitHub Mobile, according to GitHub. Each has its own menu for it. In the CLI, for example, developers run the /mcp command and open a Connectors tab.
GitHub lists 26 services at launch, including Slack, Figma, Notion, Sentry, Linear, Atlassian Rovo, Cloudflare, Vercel and Work IQ, Microsoft’s tool for pulling context from Microsoft 365. The company keeps the full list on a separate documentation page.
Copilot decides when to use a connected service. GitHub’s documentation says it can call a service’s tools when they’re relevant to a request, “even if you do not mention the service by name.”
The documentation gives sample tasks. A developer could ask Copilot to find the Slack thread where a team agreed on an API design before changing the code, or to look into a failing service by querying logs and metrics in Grafana Cloud.
In the Copilot app, users can also set up automations that use a connected service on a schedule, so Copilot handles recurring work, the changelog says.
There’s a gap in coverage. GitHub’s documentation says connectors work locally and in Copilot sessions that run in a cloud sandbox, but they aren’t yet supported in sessions that run on GitHub Actions, such as when a developer assigns an issue to Copilot.
What admins need to do
Companies have settings to change before staff can use connectors. For Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise, an admin has to turn on the Editor preview features policy, GitHub says. The documentation adds that the policy allowing MCP servers in Copilot must also be on.
If a company uses an allowlist that limits which MCP servers Copilot can reach, an admin needs to add GitHub-verified servers to it. Some services also need an admin on their side to allow access. GitHub gives Slack’s MCP access setting as one example.
The rollout is one of several Copilot updates GitHub posted the same week. Its changelog also lists Copilot Automations for shared team workflows and a Copilot Fusion feature for routing work between models.
GitHub hasn’t said when connectors will leave preview or whether more services will be added. It’s asking for feedback in a community discussion thread.
Source: GitHub Changelog, GitHub, “Connect your tools to Copilot without all the setup”
Additional sources: GitHub Docs, GitHub, “Copilot connectors”; GitHub Docs, GitHub, “Supported Copilot connectors”
