GitHub Copilot in VS Code review: your own model through Ollama, no GitHub sign-in

Not sponsoredAI Agents · Developer Tools

Tested on Linux · Freemium · Open source

GitHub Copilot is VS Code's built-in coding assistant, with inline suggestions, chat, and agents that edit files, run commands and use MCP tools. We tested on Linux with a cloud model through local Ollama, without signing in.

The good

Local models, no account. Chat and agents run on a model you add, like local Ollama, with no GitHub sign-in or Copilot plan. By default the agent writes files without asking, with Keep or Undo after.
Open source, MIT. Copilot Chat is MIT licensed and built inside the VS Code repository, so it ships with the editor.
Pick your harness. Pick Copilot's harness, shared with its CLI and app. Claude's and Codex's harnesses need their own plan or account. The model picker has a tab for your own models.

The not so good

Trains on your code. If you sign in on Free, Pro, Pro+ or Max, GitHub may train on your prompts, answers and code unless you opt out in Copilot settings. Business and Enterprise are exempt.
The local route keeps moving. The local route keeps moving. The menu marks Ollama deprecated. The Copilot harness leans on an experimental setting. Inline suggestions need GitHub, and prompting before models load opens its sign-in.

Our verdict

Recommended with caveats

Your Ollama model runs chat and agents with no GitHub account, and the chat code is open source. But GitHub trains on your prompts and code on individual plans unless you opt out, and the local setup keeps changing.

Reviewed: GitHub Copilot in VS Code 1.142 · facts checked 2026-10-21

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