Copilot asking permission for every little action? GitHub’s new Assisted permissions mode offers a middle option: fewer interruptions without giving an AI agent blanket access to your computer.
GitHub announced general availability on October 26, 2026, for Copilot CLI, the GitHub Copilot app, and Visual Studio Code. A model reviews eligible requests to run commands, read or write paths, or access URLs. It approves actions it judges safe and leaves uncertain ones for you to decide.
Turn on Assisted permissions
In an interactive Copilot CLI session, enter:
/permissions assistedCheck the current mode with /permissions show, or return to manual approval with /permissions manual.
In Visual Studio Code, open Copilot’s permissions picker and choose Assisted permissions. In the GitHub Copilot app, open the mode picker, select Tool permissions, then Assisted.
What about scripts and CI?
For a non-interactive Copilot CLI run, GitHub documents this option:
copilot -p "Fix the failing tests" --assisted-approvalThere is nobody to answer prompts in this mode. Requests that still need approval are denied, and Copilot can attempt another approach. Don’t paste the flag into an interactive CLI launch: GitHub says that usage exits with an error.
Why this is different from Allow All
- Manual: You approve requests that existing rules don’t already allow.
- Assisted: A model may approve eligible requests it considers safe; others still need you.
- Allow All: Broad permissions can bypass individual approval prompts and model safety review.
Enterprise deny rules remain in force. Administrators can disable Allow All while retaining Assisted, or disable Assisted independently.
One important security catch
The safety reviewer is still an AI model. It can misjudge a command or a file operation. GitHub explicitly says Assisted permissions do not replace sandboxing, restricted credentials, or reviewing agent actions.
Also avoid mixing --assisted-approval with --allow-all in unattended scripts: GitHub warns that path and URL access can remain unrestricted. If an organization blocks Assisted, check startup warnings rather than assuming a safety review is active.
Practical takeaway: Try Assisted on a disposable project or sandbox first. It is a useful middle ground for repetitive coding tasks—not a security guarantee.