AI Agents · News
Copilot Code Review Now Has an API
REST and GraphQL can request a Copilot review and set the effort. Balanced is the default. Lite still exists if you opted into it.
Alex Rivera · Oct 2, 2026 · Updated Oct 7, 2026 · 9 min read
You can now ask Copilot to review a pull request from a script, not just from the PR page.
On 2 October 2026 GitHub opened REST and GraphQL endpoints for Copilot code review and let each request set an effort level. The feature is generally available to Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise. That is the difference between a bot you click and a stage in the pipeline.
Image: GitHub Changelog, Copilot code review: API support and new default effort level, 2 October 2026.
Balanced is the new default
GitHub announced the shift on 28 August. It took effect 28 September. Repos and orgs that left the effort on Default now get Balanced. If you explicitly picked Lite, that stickiness was respected. Enterprises set this under AI controls → Agents → Copilot code review. Orgs, repos, and personal settings each override the layer above.
API access is how you stop treating Copilot like a coworker who sometimes shows up. You can fire a review from the same workflow that opens the PR, wait for comments, and refuse to enqueue a merge until the bot has spoken. That only works if you decide what Balanced means for your codebase: more findings, or more noise. Lite is still there for the teams that already measured the delta and hated it.
The boring operational question is billing and identity. An API-triggered review still burns Copilot quota. Put a budget on the workflow user. Do not let a recursive agent request reviews of its own stacked PRs without a cap.
Sources
GitHub Changelog, Copilot code review: API support and new default effort level, 2 October 2026. https://github.blog/changelog/2026-10-02-copilot-code-review-api-support-and-new-default-effort-level/