Automate Your Team's Agentic Workflows with a Comment: GitHub Copilot Cloud Agent Automations

Type /docs on any PR comment and GitHub's cloud agent writes the documentation, opens a follow-up PR, and closes the loop — no buttons, no dashboard navigation required.

GitHub shipped comment-triggered Copilot cloud agent automations on Aug 3. Define an automation with a trigger phrase; whenever anyone posts that phrase in an issue or PR comment, Copilot runs the agent task automatically. The result lands as a new PR, a follow-up issue, or a reply comment — depending on what your automation is configured to do.

Set up a comment trigger

1. Go to your repo → Agents → Automations → New automation
2. Set the trigger type to "Issue or PR comment" and enter the trigger phrase (e.g. /docs)
3. Write the agent instructions for what it should do when triggered
4. Save and enable

Now anyone with repo access can fire the automation by commenting the trigger phrase.

Three workflows worth wiring up now

Auto-docs on PR merge:

Trigger: /docs
Instructions: Read the diff in this PR. Update or write the relevant
docstrings, README sections, and inline comments to reflect the changes.
Open a new PR targeting this branch with the documentation updates only.

Bug investigation on demand:

Trigger: /investigate
Instructions: Reproduce the reported issue from this issue description.
Search the codebase for the likely root cause. Post a comment with 3
likely causes, the relevant files, and suggested first steps.

Tech-debt tracker:

Trigger: /track-debt
Instructions: Review the changes in this PR. Identify shortcuts, hardcoded
values, missing tests, and deferred work. Create a GitHub issue for each
one, labeled tech-debt, with a clear description and suggested fix.

Also shipping Aug 3: adjustable reasoning level

The same release adds a reasoning level control (low / medium / high) when you start a Copilot cloud agent task. Use low for fast, mechanical tasks (renaming, formatting); high for open-ended investigation or cross-file refactors that benefit from deeper planning.

Comment automations are available on Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise. Business/Enterprise requires the Copilot cloud agent policy enabled by an admin.

Sources: Trigger Copilot automations with comments — GitHub Changelog · Customize reasoning level for Copilot cloud agent — GitHub Changelog · Copilot cloud agent docs — GitHub Docs