Using GitHub Copilot to create issues

Use Copilot to quickly generate structured, high-quality issues from natural language or images, without filling out every field manually.

Who can use this feature?

Anyone with a Copilot license can use Copilot to create issues.
Try Copilot for free

In this article

Note

This feature is in public preview and subject to change.

Creating issues manually can be repetitive and time-consuming. With Copilot, you can create issues faster by prompting in natural language, or even by uploading a screenshot. Copilot fills out the title, body, labels, assignees, and more, using your repository’s issue forms or templates.

You stay in control of the process. You can review and refine what Copilot suggests before you submit the new issue.

Creating an issue with Copilot

You can create issues from Copilot Chat's immersive view.

  1. Go to the immersive view of Copilot Chat (https://github.com/copilot).

  2. In the prompt box, describe the issue you want to create.

    If you contribute issues to multiple repositories, use the repo-owner/repo-name format to specify the target repository for this issue. If you don't specify a repository, Copilot will infer the repository based on the repository you last created an issue in.

    For example:

    • In OWNER/REPOSITORY, create a feature request to add fuzzy matching to search.

    • Log a bug for a 500 error. This happens consistently when I try to log into the site.

    • Create a task to change the application logo background to red and add the label "needs design review".

    Note

    You can only use Copilot to create issues in repositories where you already have permission to create issues. This feature doesn't change your access or bypass repository permissions.

  3. Alternatively, you can use one of the following methods to include an image in your prompt:

    • Copy an image and paste it into the prompt box at the bottom of the page.
    • Click in the prompt box, then click Image. Browse to the image file you want to attach, select it and click Open.
    • Drag and drop an image file from your operating system's file explorer into the prompt box.

    After you paste or upload the image, you can add text to your prompt, for example: Create an issue because this error appears when trying to reset a password.

  4. Copilot drafts an issue that includes:

    • A suggested title.

    • Details of the required changes.

      If your repository has issue forms or templates, Copilot will choose an appropriate form or template based on your prompt. If there are no forms or templates, Copilot will create a basic issue body for the details of the issue.

      If Copilot uses an issue form, it will break up the information in your prompt into the relevant fields of the form, without losing any data. Copilot will ask you to provide additional context if there are fields it does not have enough information to fill out.

    Based on your prompt, Copilot can also suggest metadata such as labels, assignees, and issue type.

  5. Review the draft. You can:

    • Edit any part of the issue manually.
    • Choose a different issue form or template without losing your input. Copilot reformats the content according to the form or template you choose.
    • Ask Copilot to make changes with a follow-up prompt.

  6. Once the issue looks good, click Create.

Creating multiple issues at once

If your prompt includes multiple tasks or bugs, Copilot can draft more than one issue at a time.

For example: In OWNER/REPOSITORY, create 3 issues: 1) DETAILS OF ONE TASK, 2) DETAILS OF ANOTHER TASK, 3) DETAILS OF A THIRD TASK

Each draft appears separately, and you can review and edit them individually. To publish the issues, click Create on each one you want to submit.

Creating sub-issues

You can use Copilot to draft multiple sub-issues.

For example:

In octo-org/octo-repo, plan a new user dashboard. Break it down into an epic, and create sub-issues for each main feature and task.

Copilot generates a draft issue tree, with a parent issue at the top level and sub-issues beneath it.

You can review the issue tree, expand or collapse sub-issues, and edit the details of each issue.

Click the parent issue to view its details in the workbench. The parent issue displays a list of sub-issues, and you can click each one to view and edit its details in the workbench. From a sub-issue, use the "Parent" dropdown to navigate through the issue tree. You can also click Review and create at the top of the workbench to see the full issue tree and navigate directly to any issue.

Copilot can modify the tree, by unlinking issues or by attaching new drafts.

For example, you can:

  • Remove a sub-issue from the issue tree:
    Remove sub-issue NAME_OF_ISSUE from the issue tree
  • Add an additional sub-issue to the issue tree: Add an additional sub-issue with ISSUE_DETAILS to the issue tree

Once you've finished editing the drafts and are ready to publish the issues, click Review and create then click Create issues.

Working with existing issues

You can use Copilot to connect new issues with issues that already exist in your repository.

For example, you can:

  • Add a sub-issue to an existing parent issue:
    Create a sub-issue for octo-org/octo-repo issue #456.
  • Add a parent issue to an existing issue: Create a parent issue for octo-org/octo-repo issue #456.
  • Add a parent issue to multiple existing issues: Create a parent issue for octo-org/octo-repo issues #456, #457, and #458.

The draft appears in the workbench, where you can review and edit it. To publish the issue, click Review and create, then click Create issues.

Assigning issues to Copilot

To assign an issue to Copilot, you need to have Copilot coding agent enabled. See About enabling GitHub Copilot coding agent.

You can assign the issue during creation in one of two ways:

  • Natural language: Prompt Copilot with something like Assign this issue to Copilot.
  • Manually: Select "Copilot" from the assignee list.

Once the issue is assigned and created, Copilot will start working on it automatically. You’ll see a 👀 emoji reaction on the issue to indicate that Copilot is working on it.

Further reading