Which settings disable Copilot inline suggestions across all Codespaces?

[Sean-Hammond]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot in GitHub

Body

In Codespaces, when I start a new Copilot chat, it automatically turns on inline suggestions. I have turned this off, but it comes on again later, possibly in another Codespace. I would like to find a setting that disables Copilot inline suggestions across all Codespaces and repos, regardless of a new chat being initiated, and remains disabled until I change the setting again or manually toggle it somehow. Please show me where this is in the settings, as it is difficult to find. A GUI solution is preferred over terminal, if possible. Thank you.

I'm only talking about Copilot suggestions, not the more basic kind that autocompletes variable names and import statements. I'm okay with those.

[maheerCodes]

hey Hammond 👋.
good news ,,, the setting you want exists and is account-level, so it should persist across every codespace and repo,regardless of new chats being started. heres exactly where it is :

the GUI setting :

1. go to github.com/settings/copilot.
2. look for the section called**"Suggestions in the editor"or"Copilot completions"**(wording varies slightly by rollout),
3. there should be a toggle for "Show inline suggestions" ,,,this is the github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable setting, surfaced in your account-wide copilot settings.
4. turn this off.
   this is the same setting that VS Code's settings.json would control via "github.copilot.enable" ,,,,, but since codespaces can spin up fresh environments without your personal VS Code setttings synced,the account-level toggle at github.com/settings/copilot is the one that should actually apply universally , since it's tied to your github account rather than a specific machine/environment's settings.json.

about it "turning back on",
if you previously only disabled it via VS Code's settings.json(either locally or per-codespace) ,that setting doesnt carry over to new codespaces unless its in your synced settings or dotfiles repo,, which would explain why it keeps "coming back" in fresh environments. the account-level toggle above should be the persisstent fix since it lives on github's side, not in any one environment's config.

distinguishing from basic autocomplete(which you want to keep) .
the inline suggestions toggle is specifically for copilot's AI-driven multi-line/full-line suggestions,,the basic IntelliSense-style autocomplete (variable names, import statements)is a separate, non-copilot editor feature and wont be affected by this toggle at all.

if the account-level toggle doesnt stick across codespaces either (which would be a genuine bug), let me know,,,,,but this should be the one setting that applies everywhere without needing per-environment config. good luck❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Sean-Hammond]

Hey, I unfortunately don't see this in github.com/settings/copilot. I am a member of an organization, so maybe that is the reason. Here are some screenshots of what I see on the settings page.

[maheerCodes]

ah that explains it,,, your screenshot shows youre on the "Copilot Free" plan on your personal account(note the "Free" badge next to "GitHub Copilot"),and separately a member of an org that has copilot enabled for its repos but where you specifically dont have access("Admins have enabled Copilot for this organization, but you don't have access").

this is an important distinction ,,,when you're using copilot inside a codespace tied to that org's repo, copilot is running under the org's policy, not your personal account settings. your personal github.com/settings/copilot page only shows settings for your personal/ free copilot,which is a completely separate instance from whatever the org is running ,,,, hence why you dont see the inline suggestions toggle there at all .

what this means for your situation.

• if the codespace where this is happening belongs to the org's repo, the inline suggestions setting is likely controlled by org-level copilot policies (Settings -> Copilot, at the organization level) ,,, which only org admins can configure, not individual members,
• if you have copilot free active on youur personal account separately, and that's whats triggering inline suggestions in some codespaces, then the toggle at github.com/settings/copilot should still apply to your personal copilot free instance,,,but i suspect the toggle might just be in a diffferent spot on the free plan's settings page than what i described, since the free plan UI seems to differ from the paid/business one i was picturing.

a more reliable path,,,the VS Code/codespace-side setting .
given the account-level setting isnt where i expected, the codespace dotfiles approach might actually be more reliable here,,if you set up a dotfiles repository (github.com/settings/codespaces lets you link one), you can include a VS Code settings.json with :

{
  "github.copilot.editor.enableAutoCompletions": false
}

this gets applied automatically to every new codespace you create,since dotfiles are cloned/applied during codespace setup,,, this would solve the "comes back in a new codespace" problem at the source, regardless of org vs personal account settings confusion.

sorry the settings.copilot page didnt have what i expected,,,between org policies(which need admin)and the free plan UI being laid out differently, the dotfiles route is probably your most direct lever as an individual member. let me know if that setting key works once applied❤️

[Sean-Hammond]

Thank you. I will try it and let you know.