GitHub Copilot: Automatic approval of safe requests, continued manual oversight

Safe requests are approved automatically

On October 26, 2026, GitHub announced general availability of assisted permissions, where a model first reviews permission requests. When Copilot tries to run a command, access a file path, or fetch a URL, a large language model evaluates the request. This is AI trained on large collections of text. Requests classified as clearly safe proceed automatically. Requests whose safety is uncertain or that cannot be reviewed follow the session's normal permission handling.

The feature sits between manual approval and unconditional approval with broad permissions. Already allowed requests run without prompts or model review, while deny rules and enterprise restrictions still apply. In the CLI, model approval can handle requests subject to review under enterprise ask rules.

Enable it in three environments

In the CLI, run /permissions and select assisted. In the Copilot app, open tool permissions from the input field's mode menu and choose Assisted. In Visual Studio Code, select Assisted permissions in the permission picker.

To apply it to the current interactive CLI session, enter this command.

/permissions assisted

Permissions selected in the app apply to the current session and are saved as the default for new local sessions. In the CLI, set defaultPermissionMode in the user settings file ~/.copilot/settings.json to use it as the default for new interactive sessions. If an administrator sets permissions.defaultMode, that setting takes precedence. Resumed sessions retain their saved permission mode subject to current policy.

Reduce approval waits in automated runs too

Use the following when running the CLI non-interactively, without user interaction. Examples include CI/CD jobs with no terminal attached, which automatically validate and deploy code changes.

copilot -p "Fix the failing tests" --assisted-approval

You can also set the COPILOT_ASSISTED_APPROVAL environment variable to true. This option is for non-interactive runs; using it to start an interactive session makes the CLI exit with an error. During automated runs, requests that still require approval are denied. Safety review explanations are passed to Copilot so it can try another approach.

Administrators set default modes and restrictions

Enterprise administrators can block unconditional approval while keeping assisted permissions, or disable assisted permissions separately. They can also set the default permission mode for new sessions, and developers can choose other modes allowed by policy. If the default mode is disallowed by policy or unavailable, the CLI starts with manual approval.

The feature reduces approval prompts and wait times, but shifts some responsibility for checking individual actions to model judgment. GitHub's documentation warns that the model may approve dangerous or unintended actions. It does not replace access restrictions or sandboxing, a security technique that isolates programs to limit damage. In particular, combining --assisted-approval with unrestricted path and URL options may leave path and URL access unrestricted.

Assisted permissions is a practical middle ground for reducing repetitive approvals, but access restrictions and oversight of the execution environment must remain in place.