How to remove copilot #172347

rslotpole-babson · 2025-09-04T16:07:48Z

rslotpole-babson
Sep 4, 2025

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Does anyone know how to completely remove copilot from codingspaces. Use case is for a classroom assignment. Unable to remove bottom bar icon for copilot

MdSaifAli063 · 2025-09-04T16:29:30Z

MdSaifAli063
Sep 4, 2025

No idea

1 reply

Radiergummi Jan 14, 2026

Thank you for this valuable contribution! This discussion is so much richer since you revealed this information.

kirangangad · 2025-09-04T16:39:30Z

kirangangad
Sep 4, 2025

If you want to completely remove GitHub Copilot from Codespaces, you’ll need to disable or uninstall the extension inside the editor environment (Codespaces uses VS Code under the hood).

Disable the Copilot Extension
- In Codespaces, open the Extensions sidebar (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X).
- Search for GitHub Copilot.
- Click on the gear ⚙️ → Disable (Workspace) or Disable (Completely).
Uninstall Copilot Extension
- Same as above, but instead of disable, choose Uninstall.
- This will remove Copilot entirely from that Codespace.
For Classroom Use Case
- If you’re setting up a template Codespace for students, uninstall the extension and commit the .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file without Copilot configured.
- This way, new Codespaces won’t include Copilot.

After uninstalling, the Copilot icon in the bottom bar should disappear.

3 replies

rslotpole-babson Sep 4, 2025
Author

Haha. That's what copilot and chatgpt said. Doesn't work

booo2233 Sep 13, 2025

wow you asked chat gpt and posted it

kirangangad Feb 6, 2026

wow you asked chat gpt and posted it

👀🥺No

MdSaifAli063 · 2025-09-04T16:43:20Z

MdSaifAli063
Sep 4, 2025

Got it thanks

1 reply

rslotpole-babson Sep 4, 2025
Author

got what? did you get it to work?

kirangangad · 2025-09-04T16:46:28Z

kirangangad
Sep 4, 2025

Hi, Got it — if disabling/uninstalling from the Extensions tab didn’t remove Copilot completely, you can try this approach: 1. In your Codespace, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P). 2. Search for “Extensions: Show Installed Extensions”. 3. Locate GitHub Copilot. 4. Select Uninstall (not just disable). 5. If the bottom bar icon still remains, reload the window (Ctrl+Shift+P → Reload Window). If you’re setting this up for a classroom environment, you can also remove Copilot from the .devcontainer/devcontainer.json so that new Codespaces don’t include it at all. Let me know if that works 👍 Best, Kiran

…

________________________________

________________________________ From: rslotpole-babson ***@***.***> Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2025 4:41 PM To: community/community ***@***.***> Cc: Kiran Gangad ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [community/community] How to remove copilot (Discussion #172347) Haha. That's what copilot and chatgpt said. Doesn't work — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#172347 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BH5XH3E7NP7EEGPQIJTVNHL3RBTVDAVCNFSM6AAAAACFUPIZCWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMZQHE3TQMY>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

1 reply

rslotpole-babson Sep 4, 2025
Author

github copilot is not listed as an installed extension. so this doesn't work. Icon still there

kirangangad · 2025-09-04T16:56:05Z

kirangangad
Sep 4, 2025

Thanks for clarifying — if Copilot isn’t listed under Extensions, that means it’s part of the built-in Codespaces environment rather than a user-installed extension. In that case, the bottom bar icon may still appear even if you can’t disable it through the Extensions tab. 1. Hide the Status Bar Item * Open Settings (JSON) via Command Palette → Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON) * Add this snippet: "workbench.statusBar.visible": true, "github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable": false, "github.copilot.editor.enableAutoCompletions": false * This doesn’t fully remove the extension, but hides its activity. 2. Disable in Codespace Config * If you’re preparing this for classroom use, edit .devcontainer/devcontainer.json and explicitly exclude GitHub Copilot. * Rebuild the Codespace → this should remove the Copilot integration for that environment. 3. As a Last Resort * If you need Copilot completely disabled for assignments, you may want to raise a ticket with GitHub Education Support so they can confirm whether a full removal option is possible in Codespaces.

…

________________________________ From: rslotpole-babson ***@***.***> Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2025 4:49 PM To: community/community ***@***.***> Cc: Kiran Gangad ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [community/community] How to remove copilot (Discussion #172347) github copilot is not listed as an installed extension. so this doesn't work. Icon still there — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#172347 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BH5XH3GN7BTE4EBOSVGZPIL3RBUTJAVCNFSM6AAAAACFUPIZCWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMZQHE4DKMY>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

0 replies

kirangangad · 2025-09-04T16:59:30Z

kirangangad
Sep 4, 2025

Hi, That makes sense — in Codespaces, Copilot is pre-installed as part of the environment, so it won’t show up as a regular extension you can uninstall. Unfortunately, there isn’t currently a way to completely remove the Copilot icon from the bottom bar. What you can do instead: * Disable Copilot features in Settings JSON (so it doesn’t provide suggestions): "github.copilot.enable": false, "github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable": false, "github.copilot.editor.enableAutoCompletions": false * Hide the icon by customizing your VS Code UI: * Command Palette → “Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)” * Add UI config such as hiding status bar items (though the slot may still remain). * For classrooms: You can rebuild the Codespace with a .devcontainer/devcontainer.json that doesn’t include Copilot. At the moment, the bottom bar icon itself is part of the Codespaces integration and can’t be fully removed. If this is blocking your classroom use case, I’d recommend opening a ticket with GitHub Education Support<https://support.github.com/contact/education> so they can confirm if/when a complete opt-out will be available. Best, Kiran

…

________________________________

________________________________ From: Aradhna Sharma ***@***.***> Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2025 4:55 PM To: community/community ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [community/community] How to remove copilot (Discussion #172347) Thanks for clarifying — if Copilot isn’t listed under Extensions, that means it’s part of the built-in Codespaces environment rather than a user-installed extension. In that case, the bottom bar icon may still appear even if you can’t disable it through the Extensions tab. 1. Hide the Status Bar Item * Open Settings (JSON) via Command Palette → Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON) * Add this snippet: "workbench.statusBar.visible": true, "github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable": false, "github.copilot.editor.enableAutoCompletions": false * This doesn’t fully remove the extension, but hides its activity. 2. Disable in Codespace Config * If you’re preparing this for classroom use, edit .devcontainer/devcontainer.json and explicitly exclude GitHub Copilot. * Rebuild the Codespace → this should remove the Copilot integration for that environment. 3. As a Last Resort * If you need Copilot completely disabled for assignments, you may want to raise a ticket with GitHub Education Support so they can confirm whether a full removal option is possible in Codespaces.

________________________________ From: rslotpole-babson ***@***.***> Sent: Thursday, September 4, 2025 4:49 PM To: community/community ***@***.***> Cc: Kiran Gangad ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [community/community] How to remove copilot (Discussion #172347) github copilot is not listed as an installed extension. so this doesn't work. Icon still there — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#172347 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BH5XH3GN7BTE4EBOSVGZPIL3RBUTJAVCNFSM6AAAAACFUPIZCWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMZQHE4DKMY>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

1 reply

rslotpole-babson Sep 4, 2025
Author

so that's what copilot said but it doesn't work. also, these need to be at the top of settings and github.copilot.enable now takes an object

Sandeep-Sisodiya · 2025-09-04T17:15:29Z

Sandeep-Sisodiya
Sep 4, 2025

Disabling the Copilot extension alone doesn’t fully remove the bottom bar icon in GitHub Codespaces. Here’s what worked for me:

Edit the devcontainer.json
If your Codespace uses a devcontainer.json, check for this line:
"extensions": ["GitHub.copilot"]
Just remove "GitHub.copilot" from the list. That stops it from auto-installing when the Codespace spins up.
Use the Command Palette to hide AI features
Inside the Codespace, hit Ctrl+Shift+P and search for Chat: Hide AI Features. That command hides the Copilot icon from the bottom bar and disables related UI elements.
Double-check Settings Sync
If you’ve got Settings Sync enabled, it might be re-enabling Copilot automatically. You can turn off sync temporarily or remove Copilot from your synced extensions list.
Restart the Codespace
After making these changes, restart the Codespace to make sure everything updates properly.

1 reply

rslotpole-babson Sep 4, 2025
Author

doesn't work. I give up. This is amazing to me that somedthing so obvious is not doable.

bpurinton · 2025-09-12T14:56:10Z

bpurinton
Sep 12, 2025

Same problem here! We have the following in our repository configuration:

.vscode/settings.json:

"chat.disableAIFeatures": true,

And we have included the extension prepended by a - to uninstall it during setup in our .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file:

"customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": ["-github.copilot-chat"]
    }
  }

Those two things do disable copilot however only after the codespace is done building! That means our intro to programming students still see the big Copilot chat sidebar during codespace setup and there's apparently nothing we can do to hide that. This is frustrating. We don't even want to suggest to our intro students that it exists until we've taught them coding fundamentals.

Why is the new right sidebar open by default in any new codespace? This is a major, disruptive change, and the sidebar should default to not shown, or at least give us a configuration setting to disable it.

2 replies

bpurinton Sep 12, 2025

I also added this .vscode/settings.json line:

"workbench.secondarySideBar.defaultVisibility": "hidden"

But again that only seems to take effect after the initial setup phase, and the secondary Copilot sidebar still shows when the codespace is first opened.

LJ-DMACC Jan 17, 2026

This seemed to work when adding it to our classroom devcontainer.json files

  "customizations": {
    "vscode": {
      "extensions": [
        "-github.copilot-chat"
      ],
      "settings": {
        "github.copilot.enable": { "*": false },
        "github.chat.agent.enabled": false,
        "github.copilot.chat.agent.autoFix": false,
        "github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable": false,
        "chat.commandCenter.enabled": false,
      }
    }
  }

Georgereece60 · 2025-09-12T20:00:07Z

Georgereece60
Sep 12, 2025

To remove GitHub Copilot from Codespaces, first disable it via the Command Palette (Copilot: Disable) and then go to the Extensions panel to disable it for the workspace. The bottom bar icon may still show, as there's no direct way to hide it alone and hiding the full status bar is the only workaround. For classroom use, it’s better to remove "GitHub.copilot" from the extensions list in your .devcontainer/devcontainer.json file. This prevents Copilot from being installed at all when the Codespace starts.

0 replies

jfullstackdev · 2025-09-13T09:38:46Z

jfullstackdev
Sep 13, 2025

did you try in your account level ? but I'm not so sure, since my Copilot is being enforced by one Org I belong, but without the Org, I don't know if some of those can be disabled

2 replies

Shaoun18 Sep 13, 2025

If Copilot is being enforced by an organization, then yes — even if you uninstall it inside your Codespace, the Org policy may automatically reinstall or re-enable it. In that case:

At the personal account level, you can normally disable or uninstall the extension.
But if your Org has Copilot enforced via policy, you won’t be able to fully remove it yourself. The bottom bar icon will keep coming back.

👉 The only permanent solution in that scenario is for the Org admin to turn off or restrict Copilot for your account or workspace.

jfullstackdev Sep 13, 2025

nope, I was just saying that mine was being enforced by an Org, if in case a user does not belong to any Org, he is free to disable it

but I'm not so sure if it's really the case, never saw it before

Shaoun18 · 2025-09-13T09:51:52Z

Shaoun18
Sep 13, 2025

Yes — you’ll need to uninstall the GitHub Copilot extension inside your Codespace.

Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X).
Search for GitHub Copilot.
Click the gear ⚙️ → Uninstall.
Reload the Codespace (Ctrl+Shift+P → Reload Window).

This removes both Copilot functionality and the bottom bar icon.

0 replies

Muhammad-Aqib-Bashir · 2025-09-13T12:04:31Z

Muhammad-Aqib-Bashir
Sep 13, 2025

To completely remove GitHub Copilot from Codespaces:

Open Extensions → uninstall both GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat.
If the bottom bar icon still shows, add this to your .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.enable": false,
  "github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable": false,
  "chat.commandCenter.enabled": false
}

That will fully disable Copilot and hide its status bar icon.

0 replies

erixdiego · 2026-06-09T20:31:59Z

erixdiego
Jun 9, 2026

Use VSCodium. Even if you disable the Copilot Chat, you can't uninstall Copilot entirely. And they're collecting your data anyway.

VSCodium is a clone of VSCode without telemetry/tracking and without Copilot.

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