Summary
In its September 4, 2026 weekly release, GitHub put Copilot Agent Merge into public preview in VS Code. Agent Merge gets a pull request merge-ready by resolving review feedback, failed checks, and merge conflicts. The same release made the Copilot harness generally available in JetBrains IDEs.
What changed
GitHub shipped Agent Merge (public preview) in VS Code, an agent that drives a PR toward merge by addressing reviewer feedback, fixing failed checks, and resolving conflicts. The release also brought the Copilot harness to GA in JetBrains, added experimental multi-root workspace support for Copilot and Claude agent sessions, and introduced chat session hierarchies and chat backgrounds.
Why it matters
Agent Merge pushes coding assistants past authoring into shepherding code to merge, automating the review-and-fix loop that usually stalls PRs. Combined with Copilot code review now able to approve PRs, it points to agents owning more of the merge pipeline, with human review shifting toward oversight.
Evidence excerpt
"Agent Merge is now in public preview and gets your pull request ready to merge by resolving review feedback, failed checks, and merge conflicts." The same release made the GitHub Copilot harness generally available in JetBrains and added experimental multi-root workspaces for Copilot and Claude agent sessions.