Captured before automated identity checks (Oct 14, 2026): accurate as of its capture on Sep 11, 2026; our capture on Oct 15, 2026 found the same text, but its identity was not checked by them.
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Companies change their terms without announcing it. We capture governance documents, compare each new version with the last, and publish what changed, with the source text behind it. One email a week on what we found and what we could not reach.
This page describes what the document states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability may vary by jurisdiction. Methodology
“Your use of GitHub Copilot is subject to the Acceptable Use Policies, the AI Code of Conduct, and the Required Mitigations.”
“You retain all responsibility for Your Code, including Suggestions you include in Your Code or reference to develop Your Code.”
“You retain ownership of Your Code.”
“These terms have been deprecated effective 5 March 2026. New subscriptions and renewals that occur on 5 March 2026 and later are not governed by this document...”
“GitHub does not own Suggestions.”
“If you purchase GitHub under a Microsoft agreement, these terms do not apply to you and your use of GitHub Copilot is instead governed by your Microsoft Product Terms...”
These terms set the rules for using GitHub Copilot, including what content you can and cannot submit as prompts and what kinds of suggestions you may not generate. You keep ownership of your code, but you are fully responsible for anything you build with or include from Copilot's suggestions — GitHub takes no responsibility for that. These terms were deprecated on 5 March 2026, so if your subscription is new or renewed on or after that date, different terms apply to you.
These GitHub Copilot Product Terms establish the conditions under which users may access and use GitHub Copilot, including three distinct compliance frameworks governing acceptable use: the Acceptable Use Policies, the AI Code of Conduct, and the Required Mitigations. The terms allocate responsibility and ownership clearly: users retain both ownership of their Code and full responsibility for it, including any Suggestions incorporated into or used to develop that Code, while GitHub asserts no ownership over Suggestions. The document's scope is expressly limited: it does not apply to users who purchase GitHub under a Microsoft agreement, it requires agreement to the General Terms and a Data Protection Agreement unless superseding agreements are already in place, and it was deprecated effective 5 March 2026 such that new subscriptions and renewals on or after that date are not governed by this document. Prompts submitted through tools operating outside the code editor, such as the CLI, are retained by GitHub Copilot to provide the service.
As a user of GitHub Copilot under these terms, you own your code but bear complete responsibility for it, including any AI-generated suggestions you incorporate or reference. You are prohibited from submitting unlawful prompts or using Copilot to generate suggestions whose use you know or reasonably should know would be unlawful or infringe on others' rights. If you use GitHub Copilot tools outside the code editor — such as the command-line tool — your prompts are retained by GitHub Copilot to provide the service, which is a distinct data handling practice from in-editor use. If your GitHub subscription was purchased under a Microsoft agreement, these terms do not govern your use, and you should consult your Microsoft Product Terms instead.
Which mapped governance frameworks each document engages, tied to the specific provisions that engage them.
We withheld clauses we had published from this document. Each withholding is recorded in our correction log:
“Your use of GitHub Copilot is subject to the Acceptable Use Policies, the AI Code of Conduct, and the Required Mitigations.”
“You retain all responsibility for Your Code, including Suggestions you include in Your Code or reference to develop Your Code.”
“You retain ownership of Your Code.”
“These terms have been deprecated effective 5 March 2026. New subscriptions and renewals that occur on 5 March 2026 and later are not governed by this document...”
“GitHub does not own Suggestions.”
“If you purchase GitHub under a Microsoft agreement, these terms do not apply to you and your use of GitHub Copilot is instead governed by your Microsoft Product Terms...”
“...you may not use GitHub Copilot to generate Suggestions whose use you know (or reasonably should know) would be unlawful or would infringe on the rights of others.”
“...you may not prompt GitHub Copilot with content that is unlawful or otherwise prohibited by the Acceptable Use Policies...”
“If your Agreement provides for the defense of third party claims, that provision will apply to your use of GitHub Copilot, including to the Suggestions you receive.”
“...you agree to the Data Protection Agreement unless your Agreement with GitHub already includes a different data protection agreement.”
“By using GitHub Copilot, you agree to the General Terms unless you and GitHub have another Agreement in place...”
“If you use GitHub Copilot tools that operate outside of your code editor, such as Copilot for the Command Line Interface, GitHub Copilot retains your Prompts to those tools to provide the service.”
Every distinct legal provision identified in this document. Featured provisions appear above with analysis.
We have not recorded a change to this document since we began capturing it. Monitor includes alerts from a daily check, structured change summaries, and monitoring for up to 20 platforms.
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