GitHub Copilot Retires Four Models and Names Replacements

Direct answer

GitHub deprecated four models across GitHub Copilot on 2 October 2026: Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code, and Claude Opus 4.7. GitHub recommends Gemini 3.8 Flash for both Gemini retirements, Kimi K3 for Kimi K2.7 Code, and Claude Opus 5.5 for Claude Opus 4.7.

Scope

GitHub says the retirement applies across Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions. No manual action is required to remove a retired model. A suggested replacement, however, may not already be permitted by every organization.

Copilot Enterprise administrators may need to enable the alternative through model policies. GitHub recommends checking Copilot settings and confirming that the relevant policy is enabled; once available, the model appears in the selector in VS Code and on GitHub.com.

Migration checklist

1. Inventory repositories, instructions, screenshots, runbooks, and automation that name a retired model. 2. Confirm replacement policy at enterprise and organization level. 3. Run representative coding and prompt tasks against the proposed replacement. 4. Compare correctness, latency, tool behavior, context handling, and cost. 5. Update documentation and routing rules with an owner and effective date.

Editorial assessment

Model retirement is an operational change, not only a selector change. Teams that depend on repeatable generated code should preserve a small regression suite and record which model produced a result. That makes future migrations measurable and reduces silent behavior drift.

Source

• GitHub Changelog: Selected models in GitHub Copilot deprecated

FAQ

Will existing prompts behave identically? Not necessarily. Test representative tasks and compare output quality and tool behavior before changing an organizational default.

What is the first administrative check? Verify that the replacement is enabled by the applicable policy and visible to intended users.