GitHub Adds Personal and Enterprise Defaults for Copilot Code Review
Developers can automate reviews for more pull-request events while enterprises set an inherited effort level that organizations and repositories may override.
Edited by Tyronne Panaino
GitHub made new Copilot code-review settings generally available on September 23, expanding personal automation controls across Copilot plans and adding an enterprise-wide default for review effort. Developers can configure when automatic review runs, while authorized enterprise administrators can choose an inherited Lite, Balanced or GitHub-default setting for organization-owned repositories.
The release is distinct from GitHub's earlier launch of Lite and Balanced review levels. The material change is where those choices are controlled and how they inherit: individuals get a dedicated settings surface with more triggers, and enterprises gain a top-level default that organizations and repositories can override.
Personal settings cover more review events
GitHub says the dedicated code-review page is available under Copilot settings on every Copilot plan, including Business and Enterprise. Previously, personal settings were limited to Pro, Pro+ and Max and offered a single automatic-review setting without separate controls for draft pull requests or new pushes.
The new page lets a developer enable automatic review when creating or coauthoring a pull request, or when moving a pull request out of draft state. Separate controls can request another review for new pushes and include draft pull requests created or coauthored by the user.
Developers can also set a default review effort, currently shown as Lite or Balanced. That default applies to requested reviews, including reviews launched automatically. A manual request from the pull request page can still choose a different effort level for that individual review.
Enterprise defaults inherit but do not lock every repository
Authorized enterprise administrators can select Lite, Balanced or the GitHub default as the enterprise-wide review effort. GitHub says the value flows to organization-owned repositories through inheritance. Organizations and repositories can still override it.
That hierarchy gives a large company a common starting point without removing local configuration. It also means an enterprise selection is not enough to prove that every repository is using the same effort level. Administrators need to account for overrides when they audit how automated review is configured across an estate.
Automation broadens the governance question
More automatic triggers can bring Copilot review earlier into a pull-request lifecycle and repeat it after new pushes. That may improve consistency, but the fetched announcement does not publish measurements of defect detection, false positives, latency or resource use for the new settings. It also does not establish that an automatic review replaces peer review, tests or security controls.
For teams, the next practical checkpoint is configuration evidence: which triggers are enabled, what effort level each repository actually inherits, and where an override changes the enterprise baseline. Outcome evidence should then compare review usefulness and missed issues across similar pull requests rather than assuming a broader automation surface produces better code.
Status
Confirmed. GitHub says the personal and enterprise settings are generally available. Internal confidence is medium because configuration and availability rely on one official source and the resulting review quality was not independently evaluated in this run.
Sources
Update note: Last reviewed 2026-09-26. We will revise this post if GitHub changes plan coverage, inheritance rules or the available review triggers and effort levels.
Sources
Drafted with AI assistance from source briefs; reviewed for citation completeness and label accuracy.