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GitHub Copilot for JetBrains lets admins lock in a default model and adds a one-click Fix action

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

GitHub's October 10 changelog gives JetBrains enterprise admins a managed default-model setting for Copilot and adds a Fix action that routes diagnostics straight into agent mode.

GitHub Copilot for JetBrains lets admins lock in a default model and adds a one-click Fix action

GitHub shipped a JetBrains plugin update on October 10, 2026 that hands enterprise admins a managed setting to fix the default Copilot model for every new conversation in the org, and adds a Fix action that sends a flagged diagnostic straight into agent-mode chat, per GitHub's changelog.

What happened

The release lets enterprise administrators use managed settings to choose any available Copilot agent model as the default for new conversations across the organization, while developers can still override it from the model picker, per GitHub's changelog. Diagnostic intention menus now include a Fix action that opens inline chat and asks Copilot to repair the flagged issue, using agent mode when available and ask mode otherwise. A new MCP setting lets admins disable automatic server startup for Copilot and Claude tools. The update also groups chat messages by turn with quicker navigation between them and adds a Switch Account control. GitHub ended support for JetBrains IDE 2025.1 in the same release; the plugin now requires 2025.2 or later.

A managed default model turns a per-developer habit into an org policy

Before this release, which model a JetBrains developer started a Copilot conversation with was an individual choice made at the model picker each time. The new managed setting moves that choice up to the organization, so an admin can standardize on a specific agent model for cost control, consistency, or compliance reasons without asking every developer to change their own defaults. Developers keep the ability to switch models mid-conversation, so the setting constrains the starting point rather than locking anyone in. For engineering orgs already running Copilot Business or Enterprise alongside the org-wide shared skills GitHub shipped for JetBrains in September, this is the same administrative pattern applied to model selection: push a decision to the org level once, and every seat inherits it.

The Fix action is a smaller but more frequently used change. It collapses the normal sequence of reading a diagnostic, copying the error, and manually opening chat into a single click that hands the problem to agent mode directly. The MCP auto-startup toggle addresses a different complaint: tool servers that launch on IDE startup regardless of whether a session needs them, which can slow down a cold start or activate tools an admin did not intend to run by default.

What to watch next

GitHub has not said whether the managed default-model control is coming to Copilot's VS Code or CLI surfaces, which currently leave model choice entirely with the individual developer. Admins running JetBrains IDE 2025.1 need to upgrade before this release reaches them, since GitHub has already cut off support for that version.

Sources