What changed
On August 21 GitHub launched new Copilot integrations for both Slack and Microsoft Teams. Mentioning `@GitHub` can start a shared cloud-agent session from a channel, thread or direct message. The agent can investigate problems, plan and implement changes in a cloud sandbox and open a pull request, while participants in the original conversation can add context or redirect the work. In Teams, only participants with repository write access can trigger code changes. In Slack, GitHub is also a launch partner for Slack Code, which can move agent work into a dedicated code channel.
Why it matters
The workflow shift is from a developer privately delegating to a coding agent inside an IDE to a team collectively delegating from the place where work is discussed. That can shorten the path from bug report, incident discussion or meeting decision to an actionable pull request, and it makes agent prompting and intermediate work visible to peers. It also changes governance: chat membership is not the authorization boundary, repository permissions and Copilot cloud-agent policies are. Teams need to decide who can start write-capable sessions, how agent usage is budgeted, and when agent-authored pull requests require additional human review.
The chat thread becomes an agent control surface
In Slack, `@GitHub` can answer code questions, triage issues, investigate failures, implement changes in a secure cloud sandbox and open a pull request. The session keeps working asynchronously, while participants can continue to steer it from the thread. Slack Code can create a separate code channel where the team can inspect the plan, diffs and rendered artifacts without flooding the original discussion.
Teams adds collaborative delegation with repository-aware permissions
The Microsoft Teams integration follows the same shared-agent model: anyone in the conversation can ask questions or add context, but GitHub says participants need write access to the repository before they can trigger code changes. Sessions can begin from a meeting discussion, keep running in the cloud, then hand their artifacts back to the terminal, Copilot app or IDE.
Usage and approval controls still live in GitHub
Slack public preview is available to Copilot Business and Enterprise organizations and consumes existing Copilot entitlements and cloud-agent budgets. The Teams preview is available with paid Copilot plans; cloud-agent AI credits and cloud-sandbox usage are separately governed by budgets. Repository administrators can require an extra approval for pull requests attributed to the relevant Copilot integration identity before merge.
Shared prompting is useful, but shared context needs discipline
Moving the agent into team chat makes delegation observable and collaborative, but it also increases the amount of conversational context that may influence a coding task. Teams should keep repository access narrow, avoid pasting secrets or unrelated customer data into agent-visible threads, and define when a discussion is authoritative enough to become implementation work. The chat transcript should be treated as input to a coding system, not merely informal conversation.