GitHub Copilot adds server-to-server authentication for agents
A new public preview lets a GitHub App call the Copilot SDK with an installation token instead of a signed-in user, with usage billed and capped at the organisation.
GitHub shipped server-to-server authentication for Copilot on 27 October, in public preview. Services and agents built on the Copilot SDK can now call it as a GitHub App installed on an organisation, rather than acting on behalf of a signed-in person.
To use it, an organisation installs a GitHub App with the read-only Copilot Requests permission and passes the app’s short-lived installation access token to the SDK. Usage is billed to the organisation and subject to its existing model policies, budgets and spending controls. Owners can see app-attributed usage via the app_client_id field in AI usage CSV reports, and revoke access at any time by suspending or uninstalling the app.
Why it matters: anything you build on the Copilot SDK today, a bot, a CI step, a background agent, has had to borrow a human’s OAuth session to make requests. That is awkward to provision and a liability to leave lying around. A workload-owned identity means the agent’s access can be scoped, tracked and revoked independently of any one person’s account.
The caveat: this is public preview, scoped to GitHub Apps installed on organisations, not available for personal accounts.