Start Using GitHub Copilot in VS Code

If you’re a .NET developer working in Visual Studio Code (VS Code), setting up GitHub Copilot can drastically improve your productivity. In this post, we’ll walk through what is GitHub Copilot, What GitHub Copilot Does and start using GitHub Copilot for your .NET projects.

Start Using GitHub Copilot in VS Code

Getting Started

Artificial Intelligence is changing the way developers write code and GitHub Copilot is at the forefront of this transformation. Powered by OpenAI’s Codex model, GitHub Copilot acts like an AI pair programmer that suggests code snippets, auto-completes functions, and even helps generate entire methods based on natural language prompts.

With GitHub Copilot integrated into VS Code, .NET developers can write cleaner, faster, and more maintainable code with less effort. Whether you’re scaffolding boilerplate, exploring unfamiliar APIs, or experimenting with new ideas, Copilot is like having a smart coding partner by your side. Start today and see how AI can transform your .NET development workflow!

What Is GitHub Copilot?

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant developed by GitHub and OpenAI. It helps you write code faster by suggesting entire lines or functions directly inside your editor. It uses machine learning models trained on billions of lines of public code to suggest context-aware code completions as you type. It can:

Autocomplete functions or entire blocks of code
Generate comments or docstrings
Suggest alternative implementations
Translate code between programming languages

What GitHub Copilot Does

GitHub Copilot is helps developers write code faster and with fewer errors by suggesting code completions, snippets, and even full functions directly inside the code editor. Here’s what GitHub Copilot does in detail:

Code Autocompletion
- Suggests entire lines or blocks of code as you type.
- Works like an advanced autocomplete system trained on billions of lines of public code.
- Learns from your context — the file, function names, comments, and variable names.
Generates Code from Comments
- You can write a comment describing what you want (e.g., “// sort a list of users by last name”) and Copilot will generate the corresponding code.
Supports Multiple Languages and Frameworks
- Works with dozens of languages, including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, C#, Java, C++, Ruby, and more.
- Also understands many frameworks — React, Node.js, Django, etc.
Context-Aware Suggestions
- Uses the current file, neighboring files, and your project’s codebase to provide relevant suggestions.
- Learns from your coding patterns over time.
- Also understands many frameworks — React, Node.js, Django, etc.
Integrates with Popular Editors
- VS Code
- JetBrains IDEs (like IntelliJ and PyCharm)
- Neovim
- GitHub Codespaces
Helps with Boilerplate and Testing
- Can generate repetitive code, unit tests, and documentation quickly.
- Suggests code patterns common in open-source projects.
- Neovim
- GitHub Codespaces
Privacy and Security
- GitHub Copilot doesn’t upload your private code to train its model.
- Enterprise versions (like Copilot for Business and Copilot for Enterprise) offer data protection, policy controls, and compliance features.

Start Using GitHub Copilot in VS Code

Here this post not exploring how to install and setup copilot GitHub ragher than gives step-by-step guide to start using GitHub Copilot in VS Code for a .NET project. If you wisht to know how to install and setup Git copilot then visit this post "How to Set Up GitHub Copilot in VS Code".

Open any .cs file or the Program.cs file and start typing a comment describing what you want to do.

For example:

// Create a list of numbers and print their sum

After a second, Copilot will automatically suggest a code snippet.Press Tab to accept the suggestion or Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on macOS) to open the Copilot suggestion panel and view multiple options.

Example Copilot output:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
class Program
{
  static void Main()
  {
    List<int> numbers = new List<int> {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
    int sum = numbers.Sum();
    Console.WriteLine($"Sum: {sum}");
  }
}

That’s it! Copilot wrote this entire block based on a simple English comment.

Experiment with Prompts

Copilot works best when you provide clear, intent-based comments. Try these examples:

// Generate Fibonacci sequence up to 10 numbers

// Validate an email address using regular expressions

// Read a JSON file and deserialize it into a C# object

Copilot will automatically generate context-aware code snippets using .NET libraries like System.Text.Json or System.Text.RegularExpressions.

Use GitHub Copilot Chat (Optional)

If you want an even more interactive experience, try GitHub Copilot Chat (An AI assistant inside VS Code) that lets you ask questions in natural language about your codebase. Search for “GitHub Copilot Chat” in the Extensions Marketplace and install it alongside the Copilot extension.

You can ask questions like:

“How do I create an async HTTP request in C#?” “Explain this LINQ query.” “Refactor this method for better performance.”

To enable it, install the GitHub Copilot Chat extension from the marketplace.

Tips for Best Results

Use meaningful comments that describe intent rather than syntax.
Review all Copilot-generated code — it’s powerful, but not perfect.
Combine Copilot with your existing .NET tools (like Roslyn analyzers or unit tests).
Use the Copilot Labs extension for experimental features like code explanation and translation.

Tips for .NET Development

Make sure you have the C# Dev Kit extension installed for IntelliSense and debugging.
Combine it with Copilot to get full smart completion + AI-assisted coding.
Use natural-language comments to guide Copilot — it understands context well (e.g., “// create a service class for user authentication”).

Example

// create a method that checks if a number is prime

Copilot will likely suggest something like:

static bool IsPrime(int number)
{
  if (number <= 1) return false;
  for (int i = 2; i <= Math.Sqrt(number); i++)
  {
    if (number % i == 0) return false;
  }
  return true;
}

Summary

GitHub Copilot is a powerful tool for boosting productivity, learning new languages, and reducing repetitive coding tasks. By integrating it with VS Code, you can bring AI-powered coding directly into your development workflow.

Thanks

Start Using GitHub Copilot in VS Code