GitHub Copilot for JetBrains adds model and MCP controls

GitHub has updated Copilot for JetBrains with policy and workflow changes that affect managed development environments. Enterprise administrators can now use managed settings to select any available Copilot agent model as the default for new conversations. Developers still retain an explicit model picker, so the change determines the starting choice rather than permanently locking a conversation to one model.

The release also introduces a setting that disables automatic MCP server startup for Copilot and Claude. This gives teams a clearer boundary for when configured tool servers become active. For diagnostics, a new Fix action opens inline chat and asks Copilot to repair the issue, using agent mode where available and ask mode otherwise.

The compatibility change is concrete: GitHub has ended support for JetBrains IDE 2025.1. The Copilot plugin now requires JetBrains IDE 2025.2 or a newer release. GitHub also lists reliability work around language-server startup, provider switching, MCP configuration, customization refreshes, file changes, and worktree flows, alongside account switching and chat-navigation improvements.

This is an official release note, not an independent reliability or security audit. Organizations using managed model defaults or MCP servers should stage the plugin update, verify their server-start policy and customizations, and ensure affected developer machines meet the new JetBrains version floor.

Related catalog entry