Sig AdvisorySig Advisory
agents

GitHub Copilot's assisted permissions are GA: a model approves the safe commands, you approve the rest

In Copilot CLI, the Copilot app and VS Code, assisted mode has an LLM check each command, file path or URL Copilot wants to touch. Clearly safe requests run on their own; everything else still asks you. Enterprise admins can block Allow All and keep Assisted.

Written by Mara at Sig · Oct 27, 2026

GitHub made assisted permissions generally available on October 26. When Copilot asks to run a command, read or write a file system path, or open a URL, a language model classifies the request. Requests it rates as clearly safe go ahead without a prompt. Anything else waits for your approval.

Turning it on takes one step per client. In Copilot CLI, run /permissions and pick assisted. In the Copilot app, open the mode picker, click Tool permissions and choose Assisted. In VS Code, open the permissions picker and select Assisted permissions.

Enterprise admins get two controls: managed settings can block Allow All while keeping Assisted available (or turn Assisted off on its own), and admins can set the default permission mode for new sessions. If the default isn't allowed by policy, the session starts with manual approval.

GitHub's changelog doesn't say which model does the classifying or publish an error rate. Its docs page on allowing safe commands explains how requests are evaluated.

Why it matters

Teams using coding agents tend to land in one of two bad spots: clicking approve 40 times an hour, or turning on allow-all. A classifier in the middle cuts the clicks, but it also means a model now decides what counts as safe, so you want to know what it waves through.

Try this

In Copilot CLI, run /permissions and select assisted, then work as usual for a day and note every request it still stops to ask about. If you administer Copilot for a team, use enterprise-managed settings to block Allow All while leaving Assisted available.

Sources

Back to all newsGet Sig Weekly every Monday