How to disable automatic adding Copilot as reviewer?

[jcubic]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot in GitHub

Body

I want to use Copilot. I don't want to disable it for my project.

I just want it so it doesn't automatically add to PR without asking. Is there a way to disable this?

I use CodeRabbit. When I want Copilot CR, I can do this manually. I don't want GitHub to make this decision for me.

Is there a way to turn this off?

[zianafique]

Yes — you can keep GitHub Copilot enabled while disabling automatic PR review features.

In your GitHub repository or organization settings:

Go to Settings
Open Copilot settings (or Code review settings depending on your plan)
Disable options like:
Automatically request Copilot code reviews
Automatic PR summaries/reviews

This lets you continue using Copilot manually without GitHub automatically adding reviews/comments to pull requests.

Then you can still manually trigger reviews when you want, alongside tools like CodeRabbit.

Official settings/documentation:
GitHub Copilot Documentation

[jcubic]

➡️ Org settings doesn't have Copilot settings
➡️ The report code review settings only have the "Use custom instructions when reviewing pull requests" toggle and a button to add custom rules.
➡️ There are also "Copilot cloud agent" settings. Nothing from what you describe.

Are you an automated bot that answers questions? The link you provided points to the GitHub Copilot main website.

[secureml-au]

@jcubic zianafique is close, but the setting moved in 2025. Here’s the exact path as of May 2026:

To disable auto Copilot PR reviews, but keep Copilot:

For Org/Repo admins:

1. Go to Settings > Code security > Global settings
2. Scroll to Copilot code review section
3. Toggle OFF Automatically request reviews from Copilot
4. Keep Copilot toggle ON under Editor to still use it manually

If you don’t see it: You need to be on GitHub Team/Enterprise. Free plan doesn’t auto-add Copilot as reviewer — check if you have a 3rd-party GitHub App or Action doing it. Look in Settings > Actions > Workflows for anything like copilot-review.yml.

Why it happens: When you enable "Copilot code review" in org settings, it applies to ALL repos. Most people turn it on during trial and forget.

You can still use /copilot review in PR comments or CodeRabbit together. They don’t conflict.

Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/managing-copilot/managing-github-copilot-in-your-organization/configuring-automatic-code-review-by-copilot

[jcubic]

Are you a bot? There is no code security in settings, and the page you linked returns 404.

[hermanjr43]

I don’t think GitHub has a clean toggle for this yet. You can keep GitHub Copilot enabled, but the automatic PR reviewer part seems to be bundled into the Copilot review features, which is kind of annoying if you already use something like CodeRabbit.
it ends up adding multiple AI reviewers to every PR. the only real options right now are either disabling Copilot reviews at the repo/org level or manually removing it from PRs when it gets added automatically. Doesn’t seem like GitHub currently gives a simple “don’t auto-request Copilot reviewer” setting.

[P-r-e-m-i-u-m]

Yes, you should be able to keep Copilot enabled while turning off automatic PR reviews, but the setting depends on where it was enabled.

Check these places:

1. Personal auto-review setting

Go to your avatar menu -> Copilot settings and look for the Copilot code review / automatic review option. GitHub's docs say personal automatic review is configured from Copilot settings, and is available for Copilot Pro / Pro+ users.

2. Repository or organization setting

If this is happening for everyone in a repo or org, it may be configured by an admin. GitHub documents automatic Copilot reviews as something that can be enabled for a repository or organization, including through branch rules with "Automatically request Copilot code review".

3. Branch/ruleset configuration

If the repo uses rulesets or branch protection, check whether Copilot review is part of the branch rule. In that case, disabling Copilot itself is not the right fix; the rule/request setting needs to be changed.

A quick way to diagnose it:

• If Copilot is added only on your own PRs, check your personal Copilot settings.
• If Copilot is added on every PR in the repo, ask a repo/org admin to check repository/org Copilot code review settings and branch rules.
• If a GitHub App or workflow is adding reviewers, it will usually show in the PR timeline, and you can check installed apps/workflows separately.

Official docs: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-on-github/set-up-copilot/configure-automatic-review

After you turn it off, you should still be able to request Copilot manually when you actually want it.

[nyxXeclipse]

Yes, you can turn that off. GitHub Copilot has an “Automatic Copilot code review” setting that controls whether it automatically gets added to PRs/reviews.

Try this:

1. Open your GitHub settings

2. Go to:

Settings → Copilot → Features / Code Review

3. Find:

Automatic Copilot code review

4. Set it to Disabled

You may also need to check the repository-level settings because repos can enable it through rulesets even if your personal setting is disabled:

Repo → Settings → Rules → Rulesets

Then look for:

Automatically request Copilot code review

and disable it there too.

That way you can still use Copilot normally, but it won’t jump into PRs unless you manually ask for it.

[dida0982]

I want to use Copilot. I do not want to disable it for my project.

I only want to prevent it from being automatically added to PRs without permission. Is there any way to disable this?

I use CodeRabbit. When I want to use Copilot CR, I can do it manually. I do not want GitHub making that decision automatically for me.

Is there any way to disable this?

[Riddhi0124]

Yes, there is.

You can keep Copilot enabled while disabling automatic PR review assignment. In the repository settings, look for the Copilot code review / auto-review setting and turn off automatic review requests.

That way:

• Copilot stays available
• You can still invoke it manually when you want
• GitHub stops automatically adding it to PRs

A lot of teams using CodeRabbit do exactly this so they keep manual control over which reviewer runs.