Review and approve Copilot agent actions on issues (Private Preview)

[labudis]

When you set up a Copilot agent automation to triage issues, the agent can now explain why it made each change and, optionally, ask for your approval before changes take effect.

issues.agentic.review.mp4

Note

This is a preview feature and is experimental. Behavior and availability may change.

What's new

• Rationale: Every action the agent takes (setting type, adding labels, filling fields) includes a short explanation of why. Visible in the Agent actions panel on the issue page and via the ⓘ icon on timeline events.
• Suggestions: Instead of applying changes directly, the agent can propose them as pending suggestions. You approve or reject from the issue page, individually or in bulk.
• Confidence: The agent reports how certain it is about each suggestion (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH). Low-confidence actions are always surfaced for your approval, even if you didn't explicitly ask for suggestions.

Currently supported for issue type, labels, and issue fields. We plan to expand to additional actions in the future.

Setup

1. In your repository, go to Settings → Copilot → Coding agent → Automations
2. Click Add New and choose the trigger Issue opened
3. Add a prompt:
   • To apply changes directly: "Triage this issue. Set labels and issue type."
   • To require approval first: "Triage this issue and suggest labels and issue type for approval."
4. Enable the List issue fields, Set issue fields, and Set issue type tools.

Rationale is always included automatically. To require approval, include the word "suggest" in your prompt. Low-confidence actions are routed to approval regardless.

Feedback

This is a private preview. Please share feedback in this discussion. If you would like to opt out, please post in this discussion.