Randy Pagels outlines actionable techniques for using GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio Code to create effective pull request summaries, accelerating and clarifying the code review process for developers.

Use Copilot in VS Code to Summarize PRs

Author: Randy Pagels Posted on: Jun 13, 2025

Code reviews can be time-consuming, especially when manually parsing through every change. GitHub Copilot Chat offers a streamlined way to generate high-level summaries for pull requests (PRs), making review processes faster and more effective. This guide highlights several approaches to leverage Copilot for summarizing PRs directly within Visual Studio Code (VS Code).

Why Use Copilot for PR Summaries?

  • Efficiency: Skip manual review of each change—get concise overviews instantly.
  • Clarity: Generate readable PR descriptions that help reviewers understand intent quickly.
  • Consistency: Ensure every PR comes with a summary, improving code review quality.

Four Ways to Summarize PRs with Copilot Chat

1️⃣ In Copilot Chat (Best for Quick Overviews)

  • Open the pull request in VS Code.
  • Access Copilot Chat:
    • Press Ctrl + I (Windows/Linux)
    • Press Cmd + I (Mac)

  • Ask Copilot:

      Summarize the changes in this pull request
  • Action: Copy and paste the AI-generated summary into your PR description or review notes.

2️⃣ In an Inline Comment (Best for Specific Changes)

  • Review a PR in GitHub or VS Code.

  • In an inline comment, type:

      What does this change do?
  • Result: Copilot will summarize that specific code section. Copy and paste the response into your review comment if needed.

3️⃣ In the PR Description (Best for Full Summaries)

  • When opening a new PR, type:

      Summarize the changes in this pull request
  • Trigger Copilot Chat to generate the overview.
  • Insert the summary into the PR description before submitting.

4️⃣ In the File Editor (Best for Understanding Large Code Changes)

  • Open a modified file in VS Code.

  • Use Copilot Chat and ask:

      Summarize the changes in this file
  • Action: Copy and paste the summary into comments or documentation as required.

Quick Takeaway

Code reviews shouldn’t slow down your development process. By using GitHub Copilot Chat to generate summaries for PRs, you can:

  • Ensure best practices
  • Provide meaningful, actionable feedback
  • Improve code quality at a faster pace

Let Copilot assist you, so your focus remains on what matters—building great software!

This post appeared first on “Randy Pagels’s Blog”. Read the entire article here