Can I use my GitHub app to assign an issue to Copilot?

[reneew7]

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Copilot Feature Area

Copilot Coding Agent

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Are bot accounts supported? Can I use my GitHub app to assign an issue to Copilot?

I'm attempting to follow the instructions here https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/use-copilot-agents/coding-agent/create-a-pr#assigning-an-issue-to-copilot-via-the-github-api to assign issues to Copilot via the GraphQL API.

If Copilot coding agent is enabled for the user and in the repository, the first node returned from the query will have the login value copilot-swe-agent.

I am able to assign issues to Copilot using the UI (logged in as me, not the GitHub app).

When I try to query (using the one suggested in the docs) for suggestedActors in the repo using GraphQL, I only get back nodes with "__typename":"User" and Copilot is notably missing.

Permissions for the GitHub app:
Read access to metadata
Read and write access to actions, code, issues, and pull requests

[Synnrae]

its typically used for humans not bots. lmao

[Rocky-Dewan]

As of right now, Copilot does not support bot accounts for issue assignment.
Only user accounts with Copilot enabled and repository access can be assigned the Copilot coding agent.

Because the app context isn't connected to a Copilot-enabled user, the GraphQL suggestedActors query won't return copilot-swe-agent if you're using a GitHub App or bot.

Use a user access token (PAT) for a user who has Copilot enabled, not the GitHub App token, to make the mutation work.

It is not enough to grant "read and write" access to actions, code, issues, and pull requests; the token must belong to a user who has Copilot enabled.