GitHub Copilot retires three models on 16 November
Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra lose access across Copilot Chat, inline edits and agent mode, with one narrow carve-out for annual individual subscribers.
GitHub confirmed on 15 October that Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra will stop working across GitHub Copilot on 16 November. The cut covers Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions, so anything pinned to one of these models loses access the same day everywhere Copilot runs.
GitHub’s suggested replacements are Claude Opus 5.5 for both retiring Claude models, and either GPT-6.1 Sol or GPT-6 Luna for GPT-5.6 Terra. There is one exception: Claude Opus 4.8 stays available past the deadline, but only for individual Copilot subscribers on annual plans.
Why it matters: if your org has model auto-enable turned off, or a Copilot policy hardcodes one of these three model names, requests will start failing on 16 November with no warning beyond this notice. Worth checking Copilot policy settings now rather than finding out mid-sprint.
The caveat: the Opus 4.8 exception only applies to individual annual subscribers, not team or enterprise plans, so most organisations should treat all three models as gone on the same date.