February 2026: the month Copilot stopped being an assistant and became an agent

February is usually the month when the wheel starts moving again after the summer/winter pause (depending on the region). I see it as a consolidation month for discussions that were already in the air late last year. No flood of releases, but a clear direction shows up: Copilot becomes a platform and models speed up. Here is the monthly summary focused on .NET development.

GitHub Copilot: models and platform

Claude Opus 4.6 in GA

New model available in Copilot, adding options alongside GPT-5.x. Solid jump in capability and consistency.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-05-claude-opus-4-6-is-now-generally-available-for-github-copilot/

Claude Opus 4.6 Fast in public preview

Speed-optimized mode (approx. 2.5x tokens/s). Ideal for interactive workflows, agents, and CLI.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-06-claude-opus-4-6-fast-is-now-in-public-preview-for-github-copilot/

Copilot goes agentic

Claude + Codex as agents (preview)

Copilot starts integrating multiple engines as execution agents inside GitHub. It is no longer just chat and autocomplete: it starts running multi-step tasks, with direct integration in PRs, issues, and repos. In other words, Copilot positions itself as an execution system, not just an assistant.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-04-claude-and-codex-are-now-available-in-public-preview-on-github/

IDE experience (VS Code)

Better agent support, improved sessions and context, and smoother integration with AI workflows. Better tool call visualization and more fluid interactions. Foundation for agent-driven experiences.

Source: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-02-04-github-copilot-in-visual-studio-code-v1-109-january-release/

.NET: focus on testing

Copilot Testing for .NET

Copilot Testing is the most important feature for .NET devs right now. It includes automatic test generation, Visual Studio integration, and support for testing frameworks.

Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/github-copilot-testing-for-dotnet-available-in-visual-studio/

Copilot moves from writing code to automating quality (testing).

Month conclusion

The most important points in February

New models (Claude Opus 4.6 + Fast)
Strong emergence of agents inside Copilot
Improved VS Code experience
Consolidation of Copilot Testing in .NET

As a .NET dev you should:

Think in tools or skills for agents
Design APIs to be used by AI
Integrate Copilot into real workflows, not just code
Use AI for testing, refactor, and modernization

Let me know in the comments how you interact with AI models when coding. Do you use Copilot?