GitHub Copilot surges as Agent HQ targets AI ecosystem

GitHub has reported a sharp rise in paid Copilot subscriptions and set out plans to position its platform as a hub for "agents" from multiple AI model providers.

Microsoft's latest quarterly update included new figures for GitHub Copilot. GitHub said it now has more than 4.7 million paid Copilot subscribers, up 75% year on year. Copilot Pro+ subscriptions for individual developers rose 77% quarter on quarter.

Kyle Daigle, Chief Operating Officer at GitHub, linked the growth to both individual usage and wider adoption by large organisations. "Today, in Microsoft earnings, we announced that GitHub Copilot now has over 4.7 million paid subscribers, growing 75 percent year-over-year. Copilot Pro+ subscriptions for individual developers grew 77 percent quarter-over-quarter," said Kyle Daigle, Chief Operating Officer, GitHub.

GitHub also highlighted Siemens as an example of a large company expanding its use of the platform. Siemens has adopted the full GitHub platform after a Copilot rollout to more than 30,000 developers.

Daigle described the Siemens deployment as part of a broader trend in which companies standardise tooling across teams. "This momentum is being driven by individual developers leaning in, choosing Copilot as part of their daily workflows, and organisations going all-in on GitHub. Siemens is adopting the full GitHub platform to accelerate AI-native software development globally, building on a successful Copilot rollout to 30,000+ developers," said Daigle.

Agent focus

GitHub has framed its next phase of product development around "Agent HQ", which it describes as an open ecosystem for coding agents inside GitHub. The company said it expects agents from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Cognition and xAI to become available within GitHub for users with paid Copilot subscriptions.

Daigle said GitHub aims to make the platform the place where these tools operate in a software repository context. "And with Agent HQ, GitHub is becoming the place where agents live, giving developers access to agents from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Cognition, and xAI, all in the context of their GitHub repo," said Daigle.

GitHub said Agent HQ includes a "mission control" interface. It said mission control will appear across GitHub, Visual Studio Code, mobile and the command line interface. GitHub described it as a command centre for assigning and tracking work across multiple agents.

The company also listed new controls tied to agent-generated code, including branch controls for when to run CI checks, identity features for managing which agent performs a task, and tools for merge conflict resolution, file navigation and code commenting.

GitHub said it plans additional integrations with third-party work management and collaboration products, including Slack and Linear. It also referenced connections for Atlassian Jira, Microsoft Teams, Azure Boards and Raycast.

Developer workflow

Alongside Agent HQ, GitHub described updates in Visual Studio Code. The company introduced "Plan Mode". It said the feature produces a step-by-step approach for a task and asks clarifying questions before code is written.

GitHub also described a method for creating custom agents in Visual Studio Code using AGENTS.md files. It said these files act as source-controlled documents that can set rules for tools and coding preferences.

GitHub also referenced a GitHub MCP Registry within Visual Studio Code. It said the registry can surface MCP servers from vendors such as Stripe, Figma and Sentry.

Controls and metrics

GitHub has also discussed product work that targets governance and measurement for AI-assisted development. It said it has introduced a public preview for a Copilot metrics dashboard. The company said it will provide usage metrics across an organisation.

It also described an "agent governance layer", it calls a control plane. GitHub said the control plane includes policy management, audit logging and administration of AI access, including agents and MCP.

GitHub also referenced "GitHub Code Quality" in public preview. The company said it provides visibility, governance and reporting across repositories. It said the feature extends security checks to include the impact on maintainability and reliability of changed code.

SDK preview

GitHub also announced a Copilot SDK in technical preview. The company said the SDK is available for Python, TypeScript, Go and .NET. It said the SDK communicates with the Copilot CLI server via JSON-RPC.

GitHub said usage requires a Copilot subscription and that billing follows the same model as the Copilot CLI. It also said the SDK supports BYOK.

Daigle said the SDK expands where Copilot-based agent workflows can run. "The Copilot SDK takes this even further, empowering developers to bring the agentic power behind Copilot into any environment they choose," said Daigle.

"18 years ago, GitHub was a bet on collaboration. That bet hasn't changed, only grown. Developers found each other here. Then Copilot showed up. Now agents. All building together to ship what matters - to the individual and the world," said Daigle.

GitHub said partner agents will roll out inside GitHub over the coming months as part of paid Copilot subscriptions.