Last checked: September 24, 2026. GitHub now lets you turn on personal automatic Copilot code reviews, choose whether they run on draft pull requests or new pushes, and set a default review effort. GitHub says the dedicated personal settings page is available on every Copilot plan, including Business and Enterprise. Copilot code review itself is included with Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise; Copilot Free does not include it. Organization policy can still control access for organization-plan users.
For an individual workflow, open Profile picture → Copilot settings → Code review. Turn on automatic review for pull requests you create or coauthor, then enable draft reviews or reviews on new pushes if you want those additional triggers. Choose Lite or Balanced as your default. When you request a review manually, you can choose a different effort for that review. The current GitHub configuration page still shows the older personal dropdown and says that personal setup is limited to Pro, Pro+, and Max. The September 23 announcement documents the newer personal page, plan scope, and triggers; use that update for personal setup. The configuration page remains useful for repository and organization rulesets.
Which setting should you use?
| Your goal | Setting to use | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Review only your own work | Personal Copilot code review settings | Pull requests you create or coauthor, with optional draft and new-push triggers |
| Review every eligible pull request in a repository | Repository ruleset | Pull requests in the selected repositories and branch targets; admins can opt into drafts and new pushes |
| Set a default across an enterprise | Enterprise review-effort default | Organization-owned repositories inherit the default unless an organization or repository overrides it |
Personal automatic reviews and repository rulesets solve different jobs. Your personal setting follows pull requests you create or coauthor; it does not turn on automatic reviews for every contributor. A repository or organization ruleset is the administrative route for broader coverage.
Turn on personal automatic reviews
- On GitHub.com, open your profile menu and choose Copilot settings.
- Open the dedicated Code review page under Copilot. GitHub says this page is available across Copilot plans, including Business and Enterprise. The ability to use code review still depends on plan entitlement and organization policy; Copilot Free has no included code-review allowance.
- Enable automatic Copilot reviews for pull requests you create or coauthor. This covers a pull request opened as ready for review and one you move from draft to ready.
- Decide whether to enable Review draft pull requests. Turn it on if you want feedback before you ask teammates to review; leave it off if you prefer Copilot to wait until the pull request is ready.
- Decide whether to enable Review new pushes. With it on, Copilot reviews each new commit pushed to the pull request. With it off, the automatic review runs once; you can still request another review manually.
- Set your default review effort to Lite or Balanced.
GitHub’s September 23 announcement of the new personal code-review settings lists the triggers as creating or coauthoring a pull request, moving it out of draft, and optional reviews for drafts and new pushes. The separate code-review overview explains the trigger behavior: the basic automatic review runs when an open pull request is created or when a draft first becomes open; the additional switches add review while still in draft or on each push.
Choose Lite or Balanced for your default
Lite is the standard, faster review for routine changes. Balanced routes a pull request to a higher-reasoning model for longer analysis and is intended for complex logic, security-sensitive changes, or work spanning services. Balanced generally consumes more AI credits and may use slightly more GitHub Actions minutes. GitHub estimates about $0.05–$1 in AI credits per Lite review and $0.25–$5 per Balanced review; those are vendor estimates, vary with pull-request size and repository instructions, and exclude Actions minutes.
Choose a default that fits the ordinary pull request in your workflow. If most changes are small and low risk, start with Lite and request Balanced on the reviews that need deeper analysis. If the repository mostly handles sensitive or multi-service code, Balanced may be the more useful default. These effort levels are not a model picker: GitHub says Copilot code review uses a purpose-built model mix and does not support switching to a named model.
Your personal default applies to reviews you request, including reviews triggered automatically for your pull requests. A manual request still lets you select the other effort from the pull request’s Reviewers bar; that choice applies to the current review. It does not change your default. GitHub’s effort-level announcement describes Lite and Balanced as generally available across Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise plans.
Set automatic reviews for a team
Use a ruleset when the goal is to request Copilot reviews for pull requests beyond your own. In a repository, go to Settings → Code and automation → Rulesets, create an active branch ruleset, choose its branch targets, and add the automatic Copilot code-review rule. Enable reviews on new pushes or drafts only if you want those extra review runs. GitHub made automatic Copilot review its own standalone repository rule, separate from the rule that requires pull requests before merging; you do not need to add that merge gate just to get Copilot feedback. Organization owners can create rulesets for selected repositories from the organization’s repository settings. GitHub’s configuration guide describes the repository and organization ruleset paths and their targeting options, and its standalone-rule announcement explains the separation from merge protection.
For review effort, GitHub supports defaults at enterprise, organization, and repository scope. An enterprise administrator can set Lite, Balanced, or GitHub’s default for organization-owned repositories. Organizations and repositories can override an inherited default; an organization default applies to its repositories unless the repository has selected its own. A repository default applies to automatically requested reviews there. For a manually requested review, the person requesting it can pick an effort in the Reviewers bar. See GitHub’s enterprise-default announcement and default-effort rollout notice.
Check the September 28 default change
GitHub’s August 28 notice says the Default review-effort value for existing and new organizations and repositories using Copilot code review will map to Balanced starting September 28, 2026. If you want to keep Lite as the default for an organization or repository, explicitly select Lite before September 28. GitHub says an explicit Lite choice will be respected. The notice describes organization and repository defaults; if your personal default matters to your workflow, review it separately on the new personal Code review settings page.
This change affects review effort, not whether automatic review is enabled. Before the date, check which repositories inherit “Default,” choose the intended level with the responsible admin, and consider how additional Balanced reviews fit your AI-credit budget. If you are an individual using only personal automatic reviews, check your own setting rather than assuming the repository’s value is your personal preference.
Availability and approval are separate
GitHub lists Copilot code review for Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise. Copilot Free has no monthly code-review credit allowance. People who receive Copilot through an organization may also need the organization’s Copilot code-review policy enabled. The new personal settings page includes Business and Enterprise, but it does not override an organization’s access policy. For code review without a Copilot license, Business or Enterprise administrators must separately enable paid AI-credit usage and the policy allowing unlicensed members to use code review.
An automatic review is feedback, not an approval policy. Every Copilot review includes an approval assessment, but that assessment does not itself satisfy required pull-request approvals. Copilot’s ability to submit a formal approving review and count it toward a merge requirement is a separate option that is off by default. If an organization enables it, that changes the repository’s merge-control setup and should be reviewed independently. Keep the team’s required human review and branch protections explicit.
Common setup questions
Will Copilot review every push automatically?
Only if you enable Review new pushes. Otherwise the automatic review runs once for the pull request, and you can re-request a review from the Reviewers menu when you want another pass.
Does my personal setting cover every pull request in my team?
No. It applies to pull requests you create or coauthor. Use a repository or organization ruleset for automatic requests across other contributors’ pull requests.
Can I use the new personal setting on Business or Enterprise?
Yes, GitHub says the dedicated page is generally available across Copilot plans, including Business and Enterprise. Copilot code review itself is for paid plans, and an organization administrator may need to enable the feature for users on an organization plan.
Can I choose a different effort for one review?
Yes. Choose Lite or Balanced in the Reviewers bar when manually requesting the review. That choice applies to the request and leaves your saved default unchanged.
For the wider September Copilot policy context, see the September Copilot admin guide. For IDE-specific feature changes, see the August VS Code Copilot release guide.
