TL;DR
- Default Flip: VS Code 1.118 stamps a Copilot co-author trailer on Git commits after PR #310226 changed git.addAICoAuthor from “off” to “all”.
- Misfire Reports: Developers report the trailer attaching to commits made without Copilot, including on installs where chat.disableAIFeatures is set to true.
- Workaround: Users can restore prior behaviour by setting git.addAICoAuthor to “off” in their VS Code user or workspace configuration.
Visual Studio Code is now stamping a “Co-Authored-by: Copilot” trailer onto Git commits by default after a one-line change in microsoft/vscode pull request #310226 flipped the git.addAICoAuthor setting from “off” to “all” in the 1.118 release. Microsoft engineer cwebster-99 opened the change as ready-for-review on April 15, 2026, and dmitrivMS merged it into main the next day with 25 of 26 checks passing.
The opening comment quickly drew 372 thumbs-down reactions and 30 confused against just two thumbs-up. GitHub user rgs2151 distilled the response into eight words: “Why in the world would you default this!” Commenters in the same thread say the trailer is appearing on commits made without invoking Copilot, including on machines where chat features are explicitly turned off.
What Pull Request #310226 Changes In Practice
PR #310226’s footprint is small. It modifies a single file, extensions/git/package.json, to switch the git.addAICoAuthor default from “off” to “all”. With that default in place, VS Code’s Git extension automatically appends a “Co-authored-by: Copilot” trailer to commit messages whenever it detects AI-generated changes, with no opt-in step required.
Microsoft’s VS Code 1.118 release notes describe the same behaviour as a feature, pointing developers to the git.addAICoAuthor setting for control over the new default. Release notes carefully limit the trailer to commits made when Copilot makes changes to a user’s files, language that positions the trailer as accurate attribution rather than blanket marketing.
Why Developers Say The Trailer Misfires
Complaints have spilled well outside the PR. Pull request #310226 reached the Hacker News front page on May 2 with now 654 comments, following a heated GitHub Community Discussion.
Substantive objections do not come from Copilot users who dislike the trailer in general but noted disabling chat.disableAIFeatures set to true did not stop the trailer.
Several commenters describe the default as invasive precisely because it ships hidden, with no in-product notification that future commits will carry an AI co-author until the developer goes looking for the setting.
“So the logic here was: “Let’s inject our own name into every commit, even for users who never used Copilot, and ship it as a silent default.” Who thought that was okay? It’s vandalism. Shameful.”
ringoz, GitHub user (via microsoft/vscode pull request #310226)
Beyond the 372 thumbs-down on the PR, contributors in the same thread and on Hacker News converge on a second objection that targets the trailer’s design intent. Git’s Co-Authored-by trailer was introduced to credit human collaborators who shaped a commit through pairing or review, and attaching it by default to every VS Code commit replaces that pairing-credit signal with editor-presence telemetry that any commit graph reader, GitHub contributor-graph algorithm, or downstream auditor must now discount.
User GerardoSuarezRamos, posting in the PR #310226 comment thread, contrasted Microsoft’s choice with the editor Cursor, which fires no automatic trailer because Cursor’s workflow requires the developer to review every diff before commit and assigns authorship to whoever ran git commit. The Microsoft default tags on every VS Code commit, GerardoSuarezRamos argued, is weakening any future search of the GitHub commit graph for genuine AI-collaboration evidence.
Where This Leaves Developers
Developers running VS Code 1.118 can revert to the prior behaviour by setting git.addAICoAuthor to “off” in their user or workspace configuration, which stops VS Code’s Git extension from appending the Copilot trailer and restores commit authorship to the local Git identity. Microsoft has not shipped a follow-up patch addressing the user reports that the trailer attaches when chat.disableAIFeatures is true, leaving a gap between PR #310226’s “all” default and the release-notes promise that the trailer fires only when Copilot makes changes.
The unresolved gate is a microsoft/vscode detection-logic patch binding the Copilot trailer to actual Copilot file edits, including on machines where chat.disableAIFeatures is true. Until that patch ships in a 1.118.x point release after the April 16, 2026 merge, every “Co-Authored-by: Copilot” line VS Code 1.118 stamps into the public GitHub commit graph contradicts the release-notes language.