Copilot Cloud Agent for Linear Reaches General Availability
Assigning a Linear issue to GitHub's Copilot cloud agent now has it open a pull request on its own, and the integration just reached general availability.
What shipped
GitHub's Copilot cloud agent, described in GitHub's changelog as an asynchronous, autonomous background agent, can now be assigned Linear issues directly, and the integration is now generally available. When a Linear issue is assigned to Copilot, it analyzes the issue's contents and opens a draft pull request, working independently in its own ephemeral development environment powered by GitHub Actions. It streams progress updates back to the issue's Linear activity timeline as it works, and it requests a pull request review once the work is complete.
The controls Linear users get
GitHub gave Linear users several controls over how the agent runs, set right from the Linear workspace. Teams can choose which model Copilot uses for a task, point Copilot at a custom agent from their repository to match their own workflows, and set the base and working branch to control which branch the pull request targets and which branch Copilot commits to. Anyone can also steer a session already in progress by mentioning Copilot in a comment to give it new instructions. These settings can be applied per issue, or set across a whole workspace or team using Linear agent guidance.
What it takes to turn this on
To use the integration, a team installs the GitHub Copilot for Linear app from the GitHub Marketplace. Setting it up needs organization owner permissions in GitHub and workspace admin privileges in Linear. Copilot cloud agent itself is available with the Copilot Pro, Pro+, Business, and Enterprise plans.
Key facts
- Copilot cloud agent for Linear is now generally available.
- Assigning an issue to Copilot triggers an ephemeral GitHub Actions environment, a draft pull request, and Linear timeline updates.
- Controls include choosing a model, pointing to a custom agent, setting base and working branches, and steering a session via comment mentions.
- Setup requires the GitHub Copilot for Linear app, GitHub organization owner permissions, and Linear workspace admin privileges.
- The feature is included with Copilot Pro, Pro+, Business, and Enterprise.
What you can check today
If your team already runs Linear and GitHub Copilot, check whether your Copilot plan is Pro, Pro+, Business, or Enterprise, since that determines access to the cloud agent. An organization owner can install the GitHub Copilot for Linear app from the GitHub Marketplace, and a Linear workspace admin can then read the Linear integration documentation to configure agent guidance, models, custom agents, and branches before assigning a first issue to Copilot.
Check your understanding
- What four things happen automatically when a Linear issue is assigned to Copilot cloud agent?
- Which permissions does a team need in GitHub and in Linear to install this integration?
- What can a person do by mentioning Copilot in a comment while it is already working on an issue?