The **GitHub Copilot app** is a new desktop application designed to provide developers with a centralized workspace for managing multiple repositories.

This tool, announced at Microsoft Build 2026 on May 14, 2026, introduces a single “My Work” view. Specifically, it tracks active sessions, issues, pull requests, and background automations.

The application functions as a desktop-native environment for parallel agent sessions. Consequently, each session operates within its own git worktree, branch, and files. This setup allows three agents to work in the same repository simultaneously without interference. Furthermore, developers can use the “My Work” dashboard to pull tasks directly from across repositories.

Features of the GitHub Copilot app

The **GitHub Copilot app** introduces bidirectional surfaces called “Canvases” for direct artificial intelligence agent interaction.

These surfaces visualize plans, pull requests, terminal sessions, and deployment statuses in real-time. In addition, the application features an “Agent Merge” capability to resolve merge conflicts. When conflicts occur, Copilot analyzes changes, resolves them, and verifies builds before requesting human review.

Parallel Sessions and Sandboxing

To ensure cybersecurity, the platform offers both local and cloud sandboxing options.

Specifically, local sandboxing runs in an isolated environment on the developer’s machine with enforced policies. Meanwhile, cloud sandboxing provides fully isolated, ephemeral Linux environments hosted by GitHub. These environments allow agents to run code and test changes without impacting production systems.

Pricing and Tier Structure

Currently, the **GitHub Copilot app** is available in technical preview for existing Copilot Pro, Pro+, Business, and Enterprise users.

However, individual Pro and Pro+ users must join a waitlist, while Business and Enterprise customers have immediate access. Notably, GitHub paused new individual plan sign-ups on April 20 due to high compute consumption. To support high-volume usage, the company introduced a new Copilot Max tier as an upgrade. Additionally, starting June 1, 2026, Copilot Code Review consumes GitHub Actions minutes, adding recurring costs.

Market Context and Developer Metrics

This release marks a transition for the Copilot brand into a standalone platform.

This shift occurs as competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI release their own terminal-based agentic clients. For instance, Anthropic launched its Claude Code desktop client in April 2026. Meanwhile, GitHub reports that commits have nearly doubled year over year to 1.4 billion per month. As a result, developers are using over 2 billion GitHub Actions minutes weekly.

Source: X (@Joab_Jackson) — researched