Tell HN: VS Code v1.117.0 automatically adds GitHub Copilot as your co author

I don’t even use copilot. Yet, if you are like me and sometimes use the Source Control tab to stage files or manually write commit messages, it automatically appends Copilot as the co author for that commit.

How does anyone at Microsoft/Github thinks this is ok? I don’t even use your AI, this is code I have written myself. This just looks desperate.

UPDATE: It was the inline suggestions. If you use it to fill at least a character or word it will decide that it owns your code now.

I accepted a typo fix in a changelog while correcting it. Appears as tab to autocomplete for those unaware. Still seems like a reach.

In for a penny, in for an arm and a leg. You can't use Microslop, Microslop uses you. That's the order of things.

This is crazy, autocomplete changed one variable name for me and now I see:

`Co-authored-by: Copilot <copilot@github.com>`

That is not coauthorship. And if it were, every pre-commit tool that automatically reformats or fixes code should also append themselves as coauthors!

What a stupid annoying default setting! Here is how to turn it of in v1.117

```json // .vscode/settings.json { "git.addAICoAuthor": "off" } ```

Here's a more general command to turn off this and future annoyances. Works in Debian and other apt-based distributions.

   sudo apt autoremove --purge code

It does have some side effects [1] but those are not as hard to deal with as whatever MS has done and will continue doing to your workflow.

[1] disclaimer for those used to copy-pasting anything they find on the internet: sudo apt autoremove --purge <package> [<package> ...] removes software packages and their configuration files. Only use this if you know what you're doing.

This only happens on commits where autocomplete (via Copilot) was used, which I think is on by default.

Still that doesn't seem very reasonable, LLM autocomplete seems like a basic editor feature nowadays.

Maybe you are right. I could have sworn this happened without me using autocomplete.

i tested it right now, if autocomplete is turned off or not used the line doesn't get added. generating a commit msg also doesn't trigger it for some reason.

Found the culprit it was the inline suggestions. If you use it to add a single comma to the code it will decide it has part ownership of your commit now.

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Maybe this is some form of 'growth hacking'? I.e. they will use the increase in commits cowritten by Copilot as 'proof' that the AI hype is still alive?

The problem isn’t “AI in the workflow.” It’s AI claiming authorship by default.

If I didn’t explicitly use Copilot for that commit, adding it as co-author is not assistance, it’s misattribution.

The thing is it doesn’t even say anywhere this is being done, I only realised it after a PR was raised.

It's in yesterday's release notes

It is buried in yesterday's release notes.

They have "highlight" links to "Remote control" and "Codebase search", but not to "Copilot added as a Git co-author by default" which is right between the two. Something, that alters how commits work, and if you skip the Remote Control section, you won't see it.

They knew what they were doing. This is like "Sent from an iPhone" levels of nuisance default advertising.

I think its already off in 1.118.0 by default.

I have a rule for Claude to stop watermarking the commits. I feel exposed when it's doing it and I rewrote the entire Claude assisted commit history after switching from Copilot to Claude.

That's a great feature though. Vibecoded projects should be easily distinguishable, not only by common patterns preferred by "AI".

Better start including YoE on commits as well, projects by freshers should be easily distinguishable.

YoE?

Years of Experience. I'd put TC instead though.

If Copilot insists on being a co-author for suggesting a comma, I expect it to also take co-responsibility for the bugs it introduces and page itself when the production goes down at 2 AM.

PSA: You can disable it in the settings with the Git: add ai to Co author option

Thanks for sharing. Time to go back to my emacs config from late 2010s…

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Good times for being a Vim guy...

Hey. What's the least plusing workflow for neovim + rust-analyzer + rust

Hey, nowadays this setup is very easy to achieve. You can check out my dotfiles at: https://github.com/BahadirAydin/dotfiles/tree/main/private_d...

"Mason" plugin makes it easy to install LSPs, formatters, debuggers locally and built-in LSP integration is seamlessly working currently. (Look at lsp.lua)

There are also language-specific plugins but I'd suggest start with the ones I recommended to you first. It should cover your needs 99% of the time.

Or a cat/sed guy

I know right? Ed is so bloated, using your systems memory to hold file contents! When I code I stream via sed for maximum efficiency.

Friendly reminder that all (I sure hope it does all...) the Copilot kerfuffle can be disabled in `chat.disableAIFeatures` flag in the settings.

How does this look like?

Adds this line to the commit:

Co-authored-by: Copilot <copilot@github.com>

In your git commits as “Committed by USERNAME and Copilot”.

it's annoying, but i think most people wouldn't care about this, and microsoft will think this is a good idea because majority of user will not turning it off

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It has some value when you want to do sketchy things -- oh my AI ate my commit. /s

BTW I'm glad MSFT is aggressively pushing AI into VSCode. Maybe they will destroy VSCode in the process, just like Windows -- or at least give other smaller guys some breathing spaces.

Please do, MSFT.

As you can see with GitHub and Windows, lots of people are still using destroyed products that hardly have any competition.

Yeah but people are starting to migrate away from them.