GitHub Copilot Code Review Can Now Approve Pull Requests
What shipped
GitHub released approval assessments and Copilot-submitted PR approvals in Copilot code review, in public preview as of September 1, 2026. Available on Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise plans.
What changed
Every Copilot code review now includes an approval assessment in the overview comment, signaling whether Copilot considers the PR ready to merge. The assessment alone does not count toward merge requirements — it's a signal, not a vote.
Admins can also enable Copilot to submit real approvals that count toward a repository's required-approvals rule. If new commits are pushed, Copilot's approval is dismissed — same as a human reviewer — and you can request a fresh review. This is off by default and configurable at three levels:
- Enterprise: off for the whole org, or let organizations decide.
- Organization: on org-wide, let repos decide, or target specific repositories.
- Repository: on or off, with optional file-path scoping.
Why a builder cares
Copilot moves from commenter to reviewer with actual merge-gate authority. For teams with mature CI gating, enabling Copilot approvals on small, well-scoped PRs can cut review latency without sacrificing branch protection. The file-path scoping means you can limit it to test files or generated code where human review adds less value.