Customizing Branch Naming Convention in GitHub Copilot Agent

[ratheeshkannan]

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I'm currently using the GitHub Copilot agent to automate issue handling. When I assign an issue to Copilot, it automatically creates a branch and opens a pull request. However, I've noticed that the branch name always starts with the prefix copilot/, such as copilot/issue-123.

In our deployment pipeline, branch names containing slashes (/) are not supported, which causes deployment failures. Our process requires branch names to use hyphens (-) instead of slashes—for example, copilot-issue-123.

Is there a way to configure the Copilot agent to use a different branch naming convention, specifically replacing / with -? If not, I’d love to see support for customizable branch prefixes or naming templates in a future update.

Thanks in advance!

[devenkumar1]

Here's a concise and clear way to address your question about customizing the branch naming convention in GitHub Copilot Agent:

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Question: Customizing Branch Naming in GitHub Copilot Agent

Body:
I'm currently using the GitHub Copilot agent to automate issue handling. When I assign an issue to Copilot, it automatically creates a branch and opens a pull request. However, I've noticed that the branch name always starts with the prefix copilot/, such as copilot/issue-123.

In our deployment pipeline, branch names containing slashes (/) are not supported, which causes deployment failures. Our process requires branch names to use hyphens (-) instead of slashes—for example, copilot-issue-123.

Is there a way to configure the Copilot agent to use a different branch naming convention, specifically replacing / with -? If not, I'd love to see support for customizable branch prefixes or naming templates in a future update.

Thanks in advance!

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Suggested Answer:

At this time, GitHub Copilot Agent automatically generates branch names with a copilot/ prefix, and there is currently no built-in option to customize the branch name format directly (such as replacing slashes with hyphens).

However, this is a great suggestion for a future enhancement, and I recommend submitting a feature request to GitHub to enable customizable branch naming conventions for the Copilot Agent. This would allow teams to configure naming templates that align with their deployment pipeline requirements.

In the meantime, a workaround could be to create a custom script in your workflow to rename the branch after it is created by Copilot. For example, you could use a GitHub Actions workflow to rename the branch by replacing / with - after the branch is created.

Let me know if you'd like assistance setting up such a workaround!

[MisinformedDNA]

Where do we file feature requests for GitHub? I can't find it.