GitHub Copilot Agent Mode: My Honest Review for 2026

Howdy. It is January 2026. If you told me two years ago that I would spend my mornings watching a cursor move by itself, I would have laughed. Yet, here we are.

github copilot agent mode is no longer just a fancy beta feature. It is the primary way I get through my Jira backlog without losing my mind.

I reckon we should talk about what this actually looks like in practice. It is not all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes the agent gets a bit too confident.

Here is why. The transition from "autocomplete" to "agent" changed the whole game. It is like going from a bicycle to a self-driving car that occasionally tries to drive into a lake.

Why github copilot agent mode is my new best friend

I used to spend hours on boilerplate. Now, the agent handles the heavy lifting. I give it a prompt. It looks at the whole repo.

It does not just suggest a line. It writes the controller, the service, and the test. Sometimes it even writes the documentation.

Thing is, you have to watch it. It is canny, but it is not human. It lacks that specific "gut feeling" we have when a solution looks right but feels wrong.

According to the GitHub Blog, these agents now connect directly to our deployment pipelines. That is a lot of power for a script.

The reality of autonomous coding in 2026

I was working on a project for Mobile app development Utah recently. We had a massive legacy codebase. It was a total mess.

The agent managed to refactor three modules while I was out getting a flat white. Real talk, it saved me a whole weekend of work.

I found that the best results come when I treat it like a junior dev. I give clear instructions. I check the work. I don't just blindly click "merge."

If you are looking for Mobile app development Utah, you should know that local teams are using these agents to ship faster than ever. It is a big shift for the Beehive State.

Let me explain how the planning phase works

Before it writes a single character, the agent creates a plan. This is the "Copilot Workspace" evolution. It lists out the steps.

1. Analyze the issue description.
2. Search the codebase for relevant files.
3. Propose changes across multiple directories.
4. Run local tests to verify.

It is a bit scary how fast it thinks. I can barely read the plan before it starts coding. But that speed is what we pay for.

Is it actually smarter or just faster?

I reckon it is a bit of both. The multi-model support is the real hero here. I can switch between OpenAI and Anthropic models depending on the task.

Some models are better at logic. Others are better at creative problem solving. Having that choice inside the IDE is a major win.

According to TechCrunch, this flexibility is what kept GitHub ahead of the competition. It is not locked into one way of thinking.

The things that still annoy me

The agent can be a bit cheeky. It sometimes ignores my linting rules because it "thinks" its way is better. It is slightly sarcastic in its commit messages too.

I also hate when it gets stuck in a loop. It tries to fix a bug, breaks something else, and then tries to fix that.

It is like a dog chasing its tail. You have to step in and stop the madness. It is not a "set and forget" tool yet.

How to get the most out of your agent

Stop writing short prompts. That is for 2023. In 2026, we write requirements. Give it context. Tell it what files to avoid.

If you don't give it boundaries, it will wander. It might try to refactor your whole auth system when you just wanted a button changed.

I have seen it happen. It was not pretty. My terminal looked like a war zone. Use the "plan" feature to catch these issues early.

Comparing agent performance in 2026

The Newcastle perspective on agentic workflows

My mate from Newcastle says it is "pure class." He used to spend all day on CSS. Now he just tells the agent to make it look "canny."

It understands regional context better now too. It knows that a "mobile app development" project in Utah has different needs than one in London.

The localization is getting better. It is not perfect, but it is getting there. I still see some weird translations now and then.

Why companies are rushing to adopt this

Money. It always comes down to the bottom line. If one dev can do the work of three, the math is simple.

Gartner reported that agentic workflows have cut boilerplate time by 70% this year. That is a massive number. Companies cannot ignore that.

But they also forget that you still need the one dev. You need someone to blame when the agent deletes the production database.

My biggest frustrations with the setup

Setting up the extensions is a pain. You have to authenticate everything. Jira, Slack, AWS, it never ends.

Sometimes the tokens expire right when I am in the middle of a flow. It is enough to make you want to throw your laptop out the window.

And the cost? It is not cheap. The "Pro" tier in 2026 costs a pretty penny. You have to justify it every month.

Will github copilot agent mode replace us?

Nah. Not yet anyway. It lacks the ability to understand "why" we are building something. It just knows "how."

It can write the code for a banking app. But it doesn't know why a user might find the interface confusing.

We are still the architects. The agent is just a very fast builder. A builder that doesn't take lunch breaks or complain about the weather.

The Sydney take on autonomous tools

In Sydney, we call it "fair dinkum" tech. It actually does what it says on the tin. No more "vaporware" promises.

I’ve seen teams in Australia use agents to bridge the gap between design and code. It is a smooth process when it works.

Just don't expect it to understand Australian slang in the code comments. It still gets confused by "stubby" and "ute."

Dealing with the "hallucination" problem

It still happens. The agent will reference a library that doesn't exist. Or it will use a version of a function that was deprecated in 2025.

You have to be sharp. You can't be lazy. If you get lazy, the bugs will bite you.

I always run a manual test after the agent finishes. It is the only way to sleep at night. Trust, but verify. That is the 2026 motto.

Looking ahead to 2027

I reckon we will see even more autonomy soon. Maybe the agents will start attending our Zoom meetings.

Imagine an agent that listens to a client call and starts coding the features in real time. That is the dream. Or the nightmare.

Whatever happens, github copilot agent mode is the foundation. It is the start of something big.

Final thoughts on the current state

If you aren't using an agent by now, you are falling behind. It is that simple. The speed difference is too big to ignore.

It is not perfect. It is annoying. It is expensive. But it is the future of our industry.

I'm going to go get another coffee while my agent finishes this PR. It is a weird life, but I think I like it.

Real talk, the github copilot agent mode is here to stay, so you might as well get used to your new robot colleague.