Is GitHub Copilot Down? How to Check Copilot Status in Real-Time

Is GitHub Copilot Down? How to Check Copilot Status in Real-Time

Quick Answer: To check if GitHub Copilot is down, visit apistatuscheck.com/api/github-copilot for real-time monitoring, or check the official GitHub Status page. Common signs include code suggestions not appearing, slow or delayed completions, authentication failures in your IDE, plugin crashes, rate limiting errors, and Chat feature not responding.

When your AI pair programmer suddenly stops working, your development velocity crashes. GitHub Copilot has become an essential tool for millions of developers worldwide, providing intelligent code suggestions and assistance directly in your IDE. Whether you're seeing no suggestions, authentication errors, or slow completions, knowing how to quickly verify Copilot's status can save you from unnecessary troubleshooting and help you decide whether to wait or switch to alternative workflows.

How to Check GitHub Copilot Status in Real-Time

1. API Status Check (Fastest Method)

The quickest way to verify GitHub Copilot's operational status is through apistatuscheck.com/api/github-copilot. This real-time monitoring service:

  • Tests actual Copilot endpoints every 60 seconds
  • Shows response times and completion latency trends
  • Tracks historical uptime over 30/60/90 days
  • Provides instant alerts when issues are detected
  • Monitors authentication and suggestion services independently

Unlike status pages that rely on manual updates, API Status Check performs active health checks against GitHub Copilot's production services, giving you the most accurate real-time picture of AI suggestion availability.

2. Official GitHub Status Page

GitHub maintains www.githubstatus.com as their official communication channel for service incidents, including Copilot. The page displays:

  • Current operational status for GitHub Copilot
  • Active incidents and investigations
  • Scheduled maintenance windows
  • Historical incident reports
  • Component-specific status (Suggestions, Chat, Authentication)

Pro tip: Subscribe to status updates via email, SMS, Atom/RSS, or webhook to receive immediate notifications when Copilot incidents occur.

3. Check Your IDE Plugin Status

Most IDEs with Copilot integration show status indicators:

VS Code:

  • Look for the Copilot icon in the bottom status bar
  • Red/warning icon indicates connection issues
  • Click icon for detailed status and authentication state
  • Check Output → GitHub Copilot for error logs

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm):

  • Copilot icon appears in bottom right when active
  • Check Tools → GitHub Copilot → Show Copilot Status
  • Review Event Log for authentication or connection errors

Visual Studio:

  • View → Other Windows → GitHub Copilot
  • Status shown in Copilot window header
  • Check Output window for diagnostic information

4. Test Copilot Directly in Your Editor

The simplest test is to trigger a suggestion:

  1. Open a new file in your IDE
  2. Start typing a common function (e.g., "function calculateSum")
  3. Wait 1-2 seconds for suggestions to appear
  4. If nothing appears, try Ctrl+Enter (VS Code) or Alt+\ to manually trigger

For Copilot Chat:

  • Open the Chat panel
  • Send a simple query: "Explain what GitHub Copilot does"
  • Response should appear within 2-5 seconds

If suggestions don't appear after 10 seconds with a clear prompt, there's likely an issue.

Common GitHub Copilot Issues and How to Identify Them

Suggestions Not Appearing

Symptoms:

  • No inline suggestions while typing
  • Gray ghost text never appears
  • Manual trigger (Ctrl+Enter) shows no results
  • Copilot icon shows as active but produces no output

What it means: The suggestion engine may be down, experiencing high latency, or your authentication has expired. This is the most common Copilot issue and can indicate either service-side problems or local configuration issues.

How to distinguish outage vs. local issue:

  • Check if teammates are also affected (outage)
  • Try signing out and back in (authentication)
  • Check apistatuscheck.com/api/github-copilot for service status
  • Review IDE error logs for specific error messages

Slow or Delayed Completions

Symptoms:

  • Suggestions appear 5-15 seconds after typing (normal: 1-2 seconds)
  • Partial suggestions render slowly
  • High latency across all file types
  • Completion spinner shows extended processing time

What it means: GitHub Copilot's backend is likely experiencing degraded performance or high load. While the service is technically "up," response times make it impractical for real-time coding.

Performance benchmarks:

  • Normal: <2 seconds for simple completions
  • Degraded: 3-8 seconds
  • Severe degradation: >10 seconds

Authentication Failures

Common error messages:

  • "GitHub Copilot could not connect to server. Extension activation failed"
  • "Authentication failed. Please sign in to GitHub"
  • "Copilot subscription not found"
  • "Unable to verify Copilot license"

Causes during outages:

  • Authentication service downtime
  • Token validation API unavailable
  • License verification backend issues
  • Network connectivity between IDE and GitHub servers

Quick fix attempts:

  1. Sign out of GitHub Copilot in your IDE
  2. Clear Copilot cache (location varies by IDE)
  3. Sign back in with GitHub authentication
  4. Restart IDE if authentication persists

If multiple developers experience simultaneous authentication failures, it's likely a service-side issue.

IDE Plugin Crashes

Symptoms:

  • Copilot extension repeatedly crashes and restarts
  • IDE becomes unresponsive when Copilot is enabled
  • "Copilot extension host terminated unexpectedly" errors
  • Suggestions cause UI freezing or lag

What it means: While sometimes caused by local IDE issues, widespread plugin crashes can indicate problems with Copilot's code completion models serving malformed responses or experiencing extreme load.

Check for service-side issue:

  • Multiple developers report crashes simultaneously
  • Crashes occur across different IDE versions
  • Disabling and re-enabling temporarily resolves (indicates intermittent server issues)
  • Error logs show network timeout or invalid response errors

Rate Limiting and Quota Errors

Error messages:

  • "Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later"
  • "Too many requests"
  • "Copilot quota exceeded"
  • "Concurrent request limit reached"

Normal vs. abnormal:

  • Normal rate limiting: Triggered by extremely rapid request patterns (100+ suggestions/minute)
  • Abnormal (outage-related): Triggered by normal usage patterns, affecting many users

During incidents, GitHub may implement aggressive rate limiting to protect infrastructure, causing legitimate usage to hit quotas.

Copilot Chat Not Responding

Symptoms:

  • Chat panel opens but shows "Connecting..." indefinitely
  • Messages sent but no response received
  • "Unable to process request" errors in Chat
  • Chat history not loading

What it means: GitHub Copilot Chat uses different backend services than inline suggestions. Chat downtime can occur independently from suggestion availability.

Troubleshooting steps:

  1. Check if inline suggestions still work (services are separate)
  2. Try a simple query first: "Hello"
  3. Review Chat panel error messages
  4. Check GitHub Copilot status for Chat-specific issues

Multi-Line Suggestion Failures

Symptoms:

  • Only single-line suggestions appear (multi-line suggestions missing)
  • Function/class completions incomplete
  • Suggestions cut off mid-implementation
  • Complex code patterns not suggested

What it means: The more advanced multi-line completion models may be experiencing issues while simpler single-line suggestions continue working. This indicates partial service degradation.

The Real Impact When GitHub Copilot Goes Down

Developer Productivity Loss

Developers who rely on Copilot experience measurable productivity impacts:

  • 30-55% slower coding for developers accustomed to Copilot assistance
  • Increased cognitive load from manual boilerplate generation
  • Context switching costs looking up API documentation manually
  • Longer debugging cycles without AI-assisted error analysis

Research from GitHub shows developers complete tasks up to 55% faster with Copilot. When it's down, that efficiency gain evaporates.

Disrupted Coding Workflows

Modern development workflows integrate Copilot deeply:

  • Rapid prototyping sessions grind to a halt
  • Test generation automation breaks (Copilot Chat often used for test cases)
  • Code explanation features unavailable for onboarding or code review
  • Refactoring assistance lost for large-scale changes

Developers who've built muscle memory around Copilot patterns must consciously revert to pre-AI workflows, creating friction and frustration.

Pair Programming Sessions Broken

For teams using Copilot as a "second developer":

  • Live coding demos lose their AI-assisted polish
  • Interview coding sessions impacted if candidates rely on Copilot
  • Hackathons and time-sensitive projects face unexpected slowdowns
  • Teaching/mentoring sessions can't demonstrate AI-assisted development

The psychological impact of losing a trusted coding assistant mid-session can disrupt focus and flow state.

Business Impact for Development Teams

At the organizational level:

  • Sprint velocity decreases if outages occur during critical development periods
  • Deployment timelines slip for teams heavily dependent on Copilot
  • ROI on Copilot subscriptions questioned after prolonged or frequent outages
  • Developer satisfaction declines when essential tools are unreliable

For companies paying $19/developer/month (Copilot Individual) or $39/developer/month (Copilot Business), outages directly impact the value proposition.

Learning Curve Regression

Developers new to a codebase or technology stack:

  • Onboarding slows without AI-assisted code explanation
  • API learning curves steepen without contextual suggestions
  • Best practices adoption delayed (Copilot often suggests idiomatic patterns)
  • Documentation gaps feel wider without in-editor assistance

Junior developers particularly feel the impact, as Copilot serves as a real-time learning aid.

What to Do When GitHub Copilot Goes Down

1. Verify the Outage and Scope

Before escalating or switching workflows:

Confirm it's actually down:

Identify affected components:

  • Are inline suggestions working but Chat is down?
  • Is only one IDE affected (plugin issue) or all IDEs (service issue)?
  • Is authentication working but suggestions failing?

This helps determine if you need a workaround or just patience.

2. Implement Local Fallbacks

Re-enable IDE features you may have disabled:

When Copilot is available, many developers disable native IDE autocomplete. Re-enable:

  • VS Code: IntelliSense (should be on by default)
  • JetBrains: Smart code completion (Settings → Editor → Code Completion)
  • Visual Studio: IntelliCode (may be disabled if using Copilot)

Use alternative AI coding assistants:

If Copilot is down and you have subscriptions to alternatives:

  • Cursor - Ctrl+K for AI commands
  • Windsurf - Full IDE with integrated AI
  • Claude Code - Via Clawdbot or API
  • Amazon CodeWhisperer - Free for individual use
  • Tabnine - Local model options available

Keep development moving:

  • Switch to documentation-first approach
  • Pair program with human teammates
  • Use code snippet libraries (snippets.md, personal snippet collections)
  • Leverage existing code search tools (GitHub search, grep)

3. Adjust Your Workflow Temporarily

Batch AI-dependent tasks:

If Copilot is intermittently available:

  • Save complex code generation for when service is stable
  • Write pseudocode/comments now, implement later with AI assistance
  • Focus on manual tasks (code review, documentation, planning)

Lower your expectations:

Accept that:

  • You'll write more boilerplate manually
  • Debugging will take longer
  • API integration will require more documentation lookup
  • Test generation will be manual

Adjust sprint commitments if the outage is prolonged.

4. Cache and Store Useful Suggestions

Before Copilot goes down (proactive preparation):

Create a personal knowledge base:

  • Save frequently used Copilot suggestions to snippet files
  • Document common AI-generated patterns
  • Export useful Chat responses to notes
  • Maintain a "Copilot best hits" reference file

Example snippet collection:

// ~/copilot-snippets.js
// Useful patterns I've learned from Copilot

// Error handling wrapper
const asyncHandler = fn => async (req, res, next) => {
  try {
    await fn(req, res, next);
  } catch (error) {
    next(error);
  }
};

// Retry with exponential backoff
const retryWithBackoff = async (fn, retries = 3) => {
  for (let i = 0; i < retries; i++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (error) {
      if (i === retries - 1) throw error;
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000 * Math.pow(2, i)));
    }
  }
};

5. Communicate with Your Team

For team leads:

  • Notify team of Copilot outage and expected duration (if known)
  • Adjust daily standup expectations
  • Reschedule live coding sessions or demos that rely on AI
  • Update sprint planning if outage is prolonged

For individual developers:

  • Set status messages: "Working without Copilot today - responses may be slower"
  • Warn pair programming partners before sessions
  • Adjust PR timelines if working on complex features
  • Document any workarounds discovered

6. Monitor for Resolution

Set up alerts:

Test periodically:

If there's no official "resolved" update:

  • Try a simple suggestion every 15-30 minutes
  • Don't spam requests (contributes to load during recovery)
  • Check multiple IDE features (suggestions, Chat, authentication)

7. Post-Outage: Resume Efficiently

Once Copilot is restored:

  1. Clear Copilot cache if experiencing residual issues
  2. Restart IDE for clean reconnection
  3. Re-authenticate if prompted
  4. Test all features (suggestions, Chat, multi-line completions)
  5. Resume normal workflow and monitor for residual performance issues
  6. Complete batched tasks you postponed during the outage

Performance may be slower immediately after restoration as systems stabilize.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often does GitHub Copilot go down?

GitHub Copilot maintains strong reliability, typically exceeding 99.9% uptime. Major outages affecting all users are rare (1-3 times per year), though you may experience occasional regional issues, authentication hiccups, or performance degradation. Most developers encounter minimal downtime in typical monthly usage.

What's the difference between Copilot suggestions being slow vs. down?

"Down" means no suggestions appear at all, authentication fails, or errors are returned. "Slow" means suggestions eventually arrive but take 5-15+ seconds instead of the normal 1-2 seconds. Slow performance often indicates degraded service under high load, while complete failures suggest infrastructure issues or maintenance.

Can I use GitHub Copilot offline?

No, GitHub Copilot requires an active internet connection. It sends your code context to GitHub's cloud servers for AI processing and returns suggestions. There's no offline mode or local model option currently. Consider alternatives like Tabnine (offers local models) for offline development environments or air-gapped systems.

Does GitHub Copilot status affect other GitHub services?

Not necessarily. GitHub Copilot runs on separate infrastructure from core GitHub services like GitHub repositories, Actions, or Issues. Copilot can be down while GitHub.com remains fully operational, and vice versa. However, authentication issues may affect both if GitHub's OAuth service is impacted.

Why does Copilot work in VS Code but not JetBrains (or vice versa)?

Different IDE plugins may have varying dependencies, cache states, or authentication mechanisms. If one IDE works while another doesn't, this suggests a plugin-specific issue rather than a service-wide outage. Try reinstalling the plugin, clearing its cache, or checking for plugin updates. If widespread, check if GitHub has reported IDE-specific issues.

How do I know if I'm being rate-limited vs. experiencing an outage?

Rate limiting typically shows specific error messages containing "rate limit" or "too many requests" and affects only high-volume users. Outages affect all users regardless of request volume and show generic errors like "service unavailable" or simply no response. Rate limits usually reset within an hour; outages have unpredictable durations.

Should I pay for both GitHub Copilot and alternative AI coding tools?

Many developers maintain subscriptions to multiple AI coding assistants for redundancy. If your productivity heavily depends on AI assistance, having a backup like Cursor, Tabnine, or Amazon CodeWhisperer ensures you're never completely without AI support. For teams, this redundancy cost (~$40-80/developer/month total) may be justified by productivity insurance.

What's GitHub's SLA for Copilot uptime?

GitHub doesn't publicly guarantee a specific SLA for Copilot Individual subscriptions. GitHub Copilot Business customers may have different terms - check your GitHub Enterprise agreement. Like most AI services, Copilot is provided "as is" with best-effort reliability rather than guaranteed uptime percentages.

Stay Ahead of GitHub Copilot Outages

Don't let AI coding assistant downtime catch you off guard. Subscribe to real-time GitHub Copilot alerts and get notified instantly when issues are detected—before you waste time troubleshooting local setup issues.

API Status Check monitors GitHub Copilot 24/7 with:

  • 60-second health checks for suggestions, Chat, and authentication
  • Instant alerts via email, Slack, Discord, or webhook
  • Historical uptime tracking and incident reports
  • Multi-service monitoring for your entire AI development stack

Monitor not just GitHub Copilot, but your complete development toolchain:

  • GitHub - Repository and Actions status
  • OpenAI - ChatGPT and API availability
  • Cursor - Alternative AI coding assistant
  • Windsurf - AI-first IDE status
  • Claude - Anthropic Claude API
  • VS Code - Extension marketplace and updates

Start monitoring GitHub Copilot now →

Last updated: February 4, 2026. GitHub Copilot status information is provided in real-time based on active monitoring. For official incident reports, always refer to www.githubstatus.com.

Monitor Your APIs

Check the real-time status of 100+ popular APIs used by developers.

View API Status →