5 tips for using GitHub Copilot with issues to boost your productivity

Managing issues in software development can be tedious and time-consuming. But what if your AI peer programmer could streamline this process for you? GitHub Copilot‘s latest issue management features can help developers create, organize, and even solve issues. Below, we’ll dig into these features and how they can save time, reduce friction, and maintain consistency across your projects.

1. Image to issue: Turn screenshots into instant bug reports

Writing detailed bug reports is often repetitive and frustrating, leading to inconsistent documentation. Copilot’s image to issue feature significantly reduces this friction.

Simply paste a screenshot of the bug into Copilot chat with a brief description prompt Copilot to create an issue for you, then Copilot will analyze the image and generate a comprehensive bug report for you. No more struggling to describe visual glitches or UI problems—the image will speak for itself, and Copilot will handle the documentation.

For example, if you encounter a UI alignment issue or a visual glitch that’s hard to describe, just capture a screenshot, paste it into Copilot, and briefly mention the problem. In the animation above, the user’s prompt was “create me a bug issue because markdown tables are not rendering properly in the comments.” Copilot then automatically drafted a report, including steps to reproduce the bug.

To get the most out of this feature, consider annotating your screenshots clearly—highlighting or circling the problematic area—to help Copilot generate even more precise issue descriptions.

Dive into the documentation to learn more.

Projects quickly become disorganized when team members skip adding proper metadata. Incorrect templates, missing labels, or wrong issue types make tracking and prioritization difficult.

Copilot solves this by automatically inferring the best template based on your prompt. It also adds appropriate labels and issue types without requiring you to navigate multiple dropdown menus or memorize tagging conventions.

Need something specific? Simply ask Copilot to add particular labels or switch templates. If you change templates after drafting, Copilot will automatically reformat your content—no manual copying required.

3. Stay organized with versioning and milestones

Keeping issues updated and properly categorized is crucial for clear communication, maintaining project velocity, and ensuring visibility into progress. But with so much else to do, it’s easy to let this work fall by the wayside.

With Copilot, adding projects and milestones is as simple as typing a prompt. You can also specify exactly how you want issues organized. For example, ask Copilot to use the “Bug Report” or “Feature Request” template, add labels like priority: high, frontendor needs-triageor set the issue type to “Task” or “Epic.” Copilot will apply these details automatically, ensuring your issues are consistently categorized.

Additionally, Copilot tracks all changes, making them easily referenceable. You can review issue history and revert changes if needed, ensuring nothing important gets lost.

4. Batch create multiple issues at once

Sometimes you need to log several issues after a customer meeting, user testing session, or bug bash. Traditionally, this means repeating the same creation process multiple times.

Copilot supports multi-issue drafting, allowing you to create multiple issues in a single conversation. Whether logging feature requests or documenting bugs, batch creation saves significant time.

Simply prompt Copilot to create the issues, describe each one, and Copilot will draft them all. For example, you could give the following prompt to create two issues at once:

Create me issues for the following features:
- Line breaks ignored in rendered Markdown despite double-space
- Bold and italic Markdown styles not applied when combined

You will still need to review and finalize each one, but the drafting process is streamlined into a single workflow.

5. Let AI help fix your bugs with Copilot coding agent

Creating issues is only half the battle—fixing them is where the real work begins. You can now assign issues directly to Copilot. Just ask Copilot coding agent to take ownership of the issue, and your AI coding assistant will start analyzing the bug. Copilot can even suggest draft pull requests with potential fixes.

This seamless handoff reduces context-switching and accelerates resolution times, allowing your team to focus on more complex challenges.

Beyond Copilot: Issues enhancements on GitHub

While Copilot is already revolutionizing issue management, we at GitHub are always looking for ways to enhance the overall issues experience. For example, you can now:

• Standardize issue types across repositories for consistent tracking and reporting.
• Break down complex tasks into sub-issues for better progress management.
• Use advanced search capabilities with logical operators to quickly find exactly what you need.
• Manage larger projects with expanded limits supporting up to 50,000 items.

Kickstart enhanced issue management today

Ready to transform your issue management workflow with GitHub Copilot? Head to github.com/copilot and try prompts like:

• “Create me an issue for…”
• “Log a bug for…”
• Or simply upload a screenshot and mention you want to file a bug.

Experience firsthand how Copilot makes issue management feel less like administrative overhead and more like a conversation with your AI pair programmer.

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