Developers now have access to GitHub Copilot Free, an AI-powered programming assistant integrated with Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code (VS Code), requiring only a GitHub account.

On December 18, GitHub announced the release of Copilot Free, enabling developers to use up to 2,000 AI-driven code completions and 50 chat interactions each month. To access the service, users need to log in with an existing GitHub account or create a new one. The platform offers a choice between Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT-4o models, allowing users to debug code, ask programming-related questions, and perform searches across multiple files. Additionally, developers can leverage third-party Copilot agents or design custom extensions.

Copilot Free comes pre-integrated with VS Code. To activate the free tier, users can click the Copilot icon located in the toolbar and select “Sign in to use Copilot for Free.” This action redirects users to a browser, where they can log in to their GitHub account and authorize the connection to VS Code. Once completed, the GitHub Copilot extension is automatically installed within the editor.

This new offering aligns with GitHub’s milestone of surpassing 150 million developers on its platform, providing an accessible AI coding tool to support its growing community.