GitHub Releases Major Updates for Copilot in JetBrains IDEs

GitHub has announced a series of feature releases and general availability updates for GitHub Copilot in JetBrains IDEs, introducing advanced model orchestration, local sandboxes, and next edit suggestions to enhance developer workflows.

According to the official announcement, the updates are rolling out to improve capability, security, and usability across coding, reviewing, and management tasks. Users are encouraged to try the latest plugin version and share feedback through official channels such as the in-product options or the GitHub Copilot for JetBrains IDEs issues repository.

Key Updates and New Features

• GitHub Copilot Fusion: This feature replaces the previous Auto model option and is rolling out gradually to users. It handles model orchestration by allowing developers to select Standard, High, or Max effort levels, balancing quality, speed, and cost. A 30% discount applies to Copilot Fusion use for the first 30 days.
• Local Sandboxes: Local sandboxing has reached general availability, providing a secure execution boundary for agentic workflows on local machines with restricted access to system capabilities based on defined policies.
• Next Edit Suggestions (NES): NES is now generally available with improved suggestion quality, context awareness, and inline review capabilities.
• Default Harness and Navigation: The Microsoft Copilot agent harness is now the default where available, and settings access has been moved to the top level of IDE settings.

Interface and Reliability Improvements

• Session Management: A new session sidebar button allows opening sessions side by side directly from individual sessions, and default permission modes for new sessions can now be configured in settings.
• Completion and Agent Selection: Copilot appears ahead of Local in the agent picker when both providers are enabled, and inline completions now feature improved coordination with next edit suggestions.
• Diagnostics and Transparency: Hovering over a Copilot agent turn displays completion time, generation time, and per-model token usage.
• Bug Fixes: The update addresses edit reliability, cancellation recovery, selected-code context, customization access issues on Windows and WSL, prompt templates after language server restarts, and IDE responsiveness.

Practical Implications and Verification

Developers using JetBrains IDEs can access these updates by installing the latest version of the official GitHub Copilot plugin through the Plugins Marketplace. To verify feature availability and announcements, users should consult the official GitHub Blog changelog and release notes directly.