October ‘25 enterprise roundup

October 6, 2025 // 19 min read

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In case you missed it…

Published via GitHub Executive Insights | Authored by Dave Burnison

This Roundup is a must-read for any software developer or engineering leader navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-powered development, security, and platform governance. We have curated the most impactful updates, best practices, and strategic insights from GitHub’s own engineering playbook, blog posts, changelogs, whitepapers and other resources—each link is handpicked to help you and your teams ship faster, reduce toil, and unlock new levels of developer creativity.

We continue to look for additional resources that will enable you to get the most out of GitHub and we have uncovered a new resource this month, the GitHub at Work Podcast. This is a great resource if you like to use your commute time, run/walk time, etc. as an opportunity to continually learn about the latest and greatest from GitHub.

We don't expect every person to read every word of this post. Skim through the topics that apply to how you and your teams use GitHub and dig into links that are the most relevant to you. Since some readers may skip over entire sections, you may see the same link appear in multiple sections such as a link that applies to both Code Security and CI/CD. Pass this Enterprise Roundup along to your colleagues or pass along specific links that will be beneficial to others.

Contents at a Glance

  1. Analyst Reports
  2. Events
  3. GitHub Spark (Preview)
  4. AI & ML – GitHub Copilot
  5. Security
  6. CI/CD
  7. GitHub platform
  8. Developer skills
  9. Engineering
  10. Legend

Analyst Reports

📚 GitHub recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for AI Code Assistants - GitHub Copilot has been named a Leader in Gartner’s 2025 Magic Quadrant for AI Code Assistants—placing highest in Ability to Execute and furthest in Completeness of Vision—for the second year in a row. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 90% of enterprise software engineers will be using AI code assistants, and GitHub’s scale (20M+ users across 77K enterprises), agent‑based workflows, hybrid deployment flexibility, robust IDE and DevSecOps integrations, and deep enterprise-grade maturity position it as the tool enterprises need now. Understanding how GitHub continues to innovate—such as through Copilot Coding Agent, App Modernization, and enterprise-scale governance—will help software leaders evaluate whether Copilot can deliver productivity gains, code quality improvements, and scalable AI adoption across their teams.

Events

While GitHub hosts our own marquee events like Universe and Galaxy each year, you will also find GitHub participating in other industry events. Here is the latest news about upcoming events.

  • 📅 GitHub Universe - October 28–29 at the historic Fort Mason in San Francisco. It’s our biggest event of the year—bringing together enterprise leaders and engineering experts shaping the future with AI. We have a lineup of over 100 sessions, demos, and expert panels focused on AI-powered development, enterprise-grade automation, and security best practices, featuring insights from leaders at Red Hat, GM, CVS, and more. This event also offers exclusive one-on-one mentoring and immersive hands-on labs—delivering the strategic know-how and technical depth your team needs to innovate, scale securely, and confidently drive business impact. New this year: Each general admission pass includes a GitHub certification exam, so your teams will have even more skills to bring back to your organization. Check out this blog post which provides a sampling of key sessions: 📢 Your guide to GitHub Universe 2025
  • 📅 Microsoft Ignite - Get the edge you need to drive impact in the era of AI. Join us to bolster your knowledge, build connections, and explore emerging technologies. San Francisco, Moscone Center November 18–21, 2025 and Online November 18–20, 2025. You’ll learn about the latest tech trends and innovations that can help your organization gain a competitive edge and drive impact in the era of AI. Plus, you’ll get hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI, security, and IT solutions to bolster your knowledge and expand your expertise. It’s also a chance to connect with GitHub and Microsoft experts, partners, executives, and customers, allowing you to grow our network. Check out the more than 30 GitHub related sessions.
  • 📅 Check out the complete upcoming conference schedule and upcoming webinar schedule.

GitHub Spark (Preview)

With GitHub Spark, you can describe what you want in natural language and get a fullstack web app with data storage, AI features, and GitHub authentication built in. You can iterate using prompts, visual tools, or code, and then deploy with a click to a fully managed runtime. Spark is seamlessly integrated with GitHub so you can develop your spark via a synced GitHub codespace with Copilot for advanced editing. You can also create a repository for team collaboration, and leverage GitHub's ecosystem of tools and integrations. Consider using GitHub Spark to quickly create a full stack prototype and then hand the repo over to pro devs to turn it into a production ready solution.

AI & ML - GitHub Copilot

Recent advancements and feature updates for GitHub Copilot, with a particular focus on the coding agent and agent mode. Key updates include new ways to assign work to the GitHub Copilot coding agent e.g. from the CLI, Azure Boards and Microsoft Teams as well as GitHub Copilot app modernization for Java and .NET, a new MCP server registry, aggregate context for GitHub Copilot with Copilot Spaces and more!

  • NOTE: Key capabilities that are still in Preview as of 2025-10-04 are: GitHub Spark, Upgrade assistant for Java in VS Code, Code feedback in VS Code. To quickly see which GitHub Copilot capabilities are in Preview, go to GitHub Copilot · Your AI pair programmer, Click on "For Business" and scroll down to see a complete list of features. This list highlights which features are Preview.

GitHub Copilot coding agent and Agent Mode

Getting the Most from GitHub Copilot across the Enterprise

  • 📢 GitHub Copilot gets smarter at finding your code: Inside our new embedding model - GitHub Copilot’s new embedding model dramatically improves code search in VS Code—delivering faster, more accurate, and memory-efficient results. With a 37.6% boost in retrieval quality and over 100% improvement in code acceptance for Java and C# developers, this update directly enhances productivity and reliability in large-scale, real-world development workflows. If your team relies on Copilot, understanding this upgrade is key to unlocking smarter, context-aware coding assistance.
  • 📚 Playbook series: Why you need a DRI for your AI program - This post reveals why appointing a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI)—a dedicated leader, strategist, coach, and data storyteller—is the critical linchpin for transforming an AI vision into tangible business outcomes. Learn how GitHub sets this role up for success, and why without a DRI your AI investments risk staying siloed, underutilized, or stuck in “strategy” mode rather than delivering real results.
  • 📚 Playbook series: Fostering AI learning opportunities - Looking to transform your organization's AI tools into real-world impact? This post reveals why access alone isn’t enough—and outlines a proven blueprint for scaling AI fluency: from curated learning hubs and structured paths to real-world use cases and live “office hours” sessions—empowering every developer and leader to go from curiosity to confident, productive AI usage.
  • 📢 5 tips for writing better custom instructions for Copilot - If you're using GitHub Copilot in your enterprise projects, writing effective custom instructions is no longer optional—it’s essential. This guide shows how a well-crafted copilot-instructions.md file can dramatically improve Copilot’s code suggestions by giving it the context your team already knows but the AI doesn’t. Learn how to turn Copilot into a productive teammate by sharing your tech stack, coding standards, and project structure the right way.
  • 📄 Customization library - GitHub Docs - We've published a curated collection of examples you can copy, adjust, and use to enhance your experience with Copilot. This library is designed to inspire and educate people on the options available to customize Copilot responses. We've included examples of custom instructions (widely supported) and prompt files (supported in VS Code only). The examples cover scenarios such as debugging, onboarding, and accessibility.
  • 🙋‍♂️ Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming: A multi-module course teaching everything you need to know about using GitHub Copilot as an AI Peer Programming resource - Mastering Copilot isn’t optional—it’s the new literacy for modern devs. We've recently updated and launched a free, hands-on course that shows you how to pair program with Copilot like a pro—writing smarter code, solving real problems, and unlocking AI workflows that actually scale.
  • 🚢 Manage Copilot and users via Enterprise Teams in public preview - Centralizes AI user and license management for large organizations.
  • 🚢 Premium requests analytics page is now generally available - See how your organization’s premium request usage translates into real costs and gain granular insights—down to users, models, and cost centers—via a new Copilot analytics dashboard and API endpoint available for enterprise and billing teams.

GitHub Copilot and Model Context Protocol (MCP) Servers

  • 📢 Meet the GitHub MCP Registry: The fastest way to discover MCP Servers - Discover how the new GitHub MCP Registry dramatically simplifies and secures the discovery of MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers—centralizing what was previously scattered across repos, threads, and multiple registries into a curated, one-click marketplace built right into VS Code and Copilot. For more information refer to 📄 About Model Context Protocol (MCP) & 📄 Extending GitHub Copilot Chat with the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
  • 📺 A deep dive into the GitHub MCP registry (9:13) - See how the GitHub MCP registry and its open source governance model are transforming the way developers discover, vet, and publish high-quality tools—making it easier than ever to drive innovation securely at scale within enterprise environments. Learn why self-publication, robust API integration, and curated allowlists are game-changers for organizations seeking to accelerate developer productivity and confidently adopt new technologies.
  • 🚢 Internal MCP registry and allowlist controls for VS Code Insiders - Enterprise teams can now securely configure and enforce trusted MCP server access in VS Code Insiders—enabling early testing ahead of the full Copilot rollout.
  • 🚢 Remote GitHub MCP Server is now generally available - This enables enterprise developers to securely connect AI agents to live GitHub data—like issues, pull requests, and code files—using OAuth, one-click install, and automatic updates and without local setup.
  • 📢 & 📺 How to debug a web app with Playwright MCP and GitHub Copilot - Discover how GitHub Copilot, empowered by the Playwright MCP server, can autonomously reproduce, diagnose, and validate web app bugs—dramatically reducing manual debugging effort. If your team struggles with incomplete test coverage or tedious repro steps, this guide shows how to turn Copilot into a hands-on debugging assistant that sees and interacts with your app like a real user.
  • 📢 & 📺 Building smarter interactions with MCP elicitation: From clunky tool calls to seamless user experiences - Traditional AI tool integrations often rely on rigid assumptions and hard-coded defaults, leading to clunky user experiences. This post introduces MCP elicitation, a new capability that enables AI agents like GitHub Copilot to dynamically ask for missing information—transforming interactions from brittle tool calls into intuitive, context-aware workflows.

Copilot Spaces

GitHub Copilot CLI

GitHub Copilot Code Reviews

GitHub Copilot - New Models

Additional GitHub Copilot Updates

Security

Application security with GitHub, ensuring the code that lives in GitHub and the dependencies that go into the solutions you build are secure and do not contain any secrets.

Secret Protection

Code Security

Supply Chain Security

Additional Security Updates

  • 📢 Post-quantum security for SSH access on GitHub - GitHub rolled out a hybrid post‑quantum SSH key‑exchange algorithm to future‑proof SSH connections against “store‑now, decrypt‑later” quantum attacks. This means that even if quantum computers capable of breaking current crypto arrive years from now, your SSH‑based Git traffic remains secure—without any configuration changes.
  • 🚢 Security contact for security notification emails is generally available - Enterprise admins can now set a dedicated security‑incident contact email at the enterprise account level—ensuring timely, targeted alert delivery to the right responsibles rather than flooding general inboxes.
  • 🚢 GitHub Changelog - Security, September, 2025 - Skim through all of the security related changes from September.

CI/CD

Continuous Integration & Continuous Deployment with GitHub Actions.

GitHub Platform

Resources to assist those who manage the rollout and maintenance of GitHub for hundreds if not thousands of stakeholders.

Developer Skills

General developer expertise based on our own experience and the collective experience of our customers and partners. It's time to start diving into how AI is going to work along side of you to make you a better, more productive developer not, replace you. Check out the new posts 📢, documentation 📄, and articles 📚 to see how AI can make you an awesome developer and guidance for how large enterprises should approach adopting AI.

  • 📚 Playbook series: Fostering AI learning opportunities - This post reveals why access alone isn’t enough—and outlines a proven blueprint for scaling AI fluency: from curated learning hubs and structured paths to real-world use cases and live “office hours” sessions—empowering every developer and leader to go from curiosity to confident, productive AI usage.
  • 🎧 Why Junior Devs Aren’t Obsolete | GitHub at Work Podcast - This episode recaps August 2025 GitHub releases. The deep dive explores developer joy in the AI era, junior developer relevance, and best practices for successful Copilot rollouts.
  • 🚢 Open sourcing the GitHub Annotation Toolkit - Open‑sourcing this Figma‑based GitHub Annotation Toolkit equips your enterprise design and development teams with a comprehensive, WCAG‑aligned annotation system—complete with flow diagrams, interaction mapping, semantic structuring, and accessible presets—so you can proactively eliminate nearly half of common accessibility issues straight from the design phase.
  • 🗣️ GitHub Administration certification prep course - Build your Enterprise knowledge of GitHub tools, best practices, and concepts with our GitHub Administration Certification prep course. Join our four week course to help you ace the exam and showcase your GitHub expertise!

Engineering

An inside look at how we’re building the home for all developers. Resources based on our internal experiences.

  • 📚 Playbook series: Why you need a DRI for your AI program - Learn how GitHub sets the Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) role up for success, and why without a DRI your AI investments risk staying siloed, underutilized, or stuck in “strategy” mode rather than delivering real results.
  • 📚 How GitHub's Licensing team used AI agents to champion accessibility - By delegating well-defined accessibility fixes, the team resolved 70% of issues autonomously, met their compliance goals, and maintained full velocity on feature delivery—demonstrating how smart AI integration can accelerate both productivity and inclusivity. "In this new era of development, the teams that thrive won't just be those with the most resources, but those who most creatively harness the complementary strengths of humans and AI to deliver better, more accessible experiences for everyone."
  • 🚢 Open sourcing the GitHub Annotation Toolkit - Open‑sourcing this Figma‑based GitHub Annotation Toolkit developed from our internal accessibility work, equips your enterprise design and development teams with a comprehensive, WCAG‑aligned annotation system—complete with flow diagrams, interaction mapping, semantic structuring, and accessible presets—so you can proactively eliminate nearly half of common accessibility issues straight from the design phase.

Legend

That’s it for the October '25 edition of the enterprise roundup. Check back in to the GitHub Executive Insights at the beginning of next month to see the next round of key updates.

We want to hear from you! Did you find this curated list of updates from GitHub helpful? Do you have suggestions on how we can provide the information that is going to be the most useful and timely for your role? Visit the GitHub Community. October ‘25 enterprise roundup - community · Discussion

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