Since our last update, we’ve continued to invest in making the GitHub Copilot cloud agent for Jira integration more powerful and customizable. These improvements give teams greater control over how Copilot works within their existing Jira workflows.

What’s new

Custom agents

You can now specify in the Jira ticket a custom agent from your GitHub repository to be used when fulfilling the task. This allows teams to tailor Copilot cloud agent’s behavior to their specific needs, directly from the Jira ticket. For more information on custom agents, see Customizing Copilot cloud agent.

Custom fields

Copilot cloud agent can now read the content of Atlassian custom fields—such as acceptance criteria—and include that context when working on your issue. This means the agent receives richer, more structured context.

Custom branching rules

Copilot cloud agent now respects branch naming rules specified in your Atlassian ticket. If your team follows specific branching conventions, Copilot can read and follow them when creating pull requests, keeping your repository consistent with your existing workflow.

Custom instructions

You can now define overarching instructions at the Atlassian space level that apply every time Copilot cloud agent is triggered. Use these custom instructions to specify defaults such as the target repository, branch naming rules, preferred models, or particular agents to use. This reduces repetitive configuration flows and increases control over the agent’s behavior.

Review request notifications in Jira

When Copilot cloud agent opens a draft pull request and requests your review, a comment is now posted in the Jira issue to notify you. Even if you haven’t opened the pull request, you’ll know when Copilot is ready for your review.

Getting started

To get all these updates, ensure you have the latest version of the GitHub Copilot for Jira app from your Atlassian instance.