yeah, this is actually expected, it’s not a bug on your side

github recently rolled out a change (march 12, 2026) to how copilot is packaged for students. if you’re on the copilot student plan, they removed direct access to some premium models like claude Opus, claude sonnet, and even some newer GPT variants from the model selector

that’s why they “disappeared” without any error, they weren’t temporarily removed, they’re just no longer available for manual selection under that plan

a couple key points:
• it’s not region-related or a glitch
• it’s tied to your plan (student vs pro)
• those models may still be used behind the scenes via “auto mode,” but you can’t pick them manually anymore

if you want them back in the selector, the only current workaround is upgrading to copilot pro / pro+

so yeah, you’re definitely not alone, everyone on the student plan is seeing this :((

you can join this thread to read more on the issue: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189268#discussion-9625183

It's a shame that GitHub is removing access to Claude's models for students. Is paying for Copilot Pro now the only way to get these models?

Hi! Claude models on Copilot can disappear due to a few common reasons:

Copilot Pro+ is required for Claude Opus 4.6 — Pro alone may not include it
Regional availability — not all regions have access yet
GitHub sometimes adjusts model access during rollout phases

Quick fixes to try:

Check your plan at github.com/settings/copilot
Sign out and back into Copilot
Try the model selector on github.com instead of your IDE

If still missing, contact support at support.github.com 👍

Can we add credit card or debit card?, such that opus model can be accessed via paid version & other models via our regular copilot student pack?

Hi 👋

This is actually expected behavior and not an issue on your side.
GitHub has recently changed how models are exposed in Copilot (including Copilot CLI). Because of this:

• Latest Claude models (like Opus 4.6 or newer Sonnet versions) may not appear anymore
• Model availability depends on your plan, region, and rollout updates
• Copilot only provides a limited/curated set of models, not full access to all Claude versions

✅ Using Claude models in Copilot CLI

You can still use available (older/stable) Claude models via Copilot CLI.
First, check which models are available:

copilot models

Then select one of the available Claude models:

copilot chat --model claude-sonnet-4.5

Or inside interactive mode:

/model claude-sonnet-4.5

⚠️ Important

• If a model is not listed, you cannot access it via Copilot CLI
• Missing models are usually due to:
  • Feature rollout changes
  • Plan limitations
  • Temporary removal by GitHub

💡 Suggestion

If you specifically need the latest Claude models, you’ll need to use them via:

• Anthropic API directly
• Other platforms that provide full Claude access
  Copilot CLI is mainly designed for integrated development workflows, not full model access.

Hope this helps 👍

To clarify what's going on here, since this thread has a mix of different issues being conflated:

There are two separate problems being discussed:

1. Student plan users — models removed from selector

GitHub officially removed manual selection of premium Claude models (Opus, Sonnet) from the Copilot Student plan as of mid-March 2026. This is intentional, not a bug. These models
may still be used internally via "auto mode," but you can no longer pick them manually. The only way to get them back in the selector is upgrading to a paid Copilot Pro or Pro+
plan. More details in https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189268#discussion-9625183.

2. Paid Pro/Pro+ users — models throwing errors

Several paying users in this thread are reporting that Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 throw errors like Error during execution or 400: too many URL images in request. This is a
different issue entirely and is not about plan restrictions — it's a service-side bug.

If you're on a paid plan and seeing errors:

• Try reloading your VS Code window (this has worked for some people)
• Test the model on https://github.com chat instead of your IDE to isolate the issue
• Check your Copilot plan status at https://github.com/settings/copilot to confirm you're actually on Pro/Pro+
• If the 400: too many URL images error persists, it's a known bug with how Copilot serializes context for Claude models — open a support ticket at https://support.github.com

@fershibli @JoeyGellerbit — since you're paying customers getting errors, this is worth a direct support ticket. The student plan changes shouldn't affect you at all.

This isn’t a bug — it’s most likely an intentional change by GitHub.

Recently, GitHub started removing some premium models (including Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6) from certain Copilot plans or contexts. This especially affects:

Student plans
Some Copilot Pro users depending on rollout/region
VS Code model picker availability

Reports across multiple discussions show these models disappearing from the selector even with active subscriptions, which indicates backend changes rather than a local issue.

Additionally, GitHub has been adjusting model availability and limiting access to higher-cost models as part of plan restructuring and cost optimization.

What you can do
Check “Manage Models” in Copilot settings (some models may require manual enabling or API keys)
Try Copilot Web (sometimes models appear there but not in VS Code)
Wait for rollout updates (availability is being changed gradually)
Important note

Even though models like Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 exist and were added earlier, availability inside Copilot is not guaranteed across all plans anymore.

It is so disappointing to see this change. Anthropic’s Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 are no longer available for the Pro plan. Meanwhile, OpenAI is increasing its limits, while Microsoft is reducing theirs. It is sad to see this trend. Also, the $39 Copilot Pro+ plan does not seem worth it compared to other tools like Codex and Cursor.

i'm not a student and cannot access opus 4.6 and i got rate-limited.. i opened a claude code subscription but it's not the same

I suspect it’s because Copilot charges based on the number of requests, and a large number of users choosing Opus 4.6 is hurting their profits. But I’ve already paid for a full-year subscription—how can they change the subscription offering midway? Copilot subscribers are all experienced GitHub developers; under these circumstances, is GitHub still trustworthy?

May be I have to re-think my first emotions. I read more and more about Claude data center problems regarding missing capacities.

Maybe not Microsoft is the reason, but Claude itself. Then I wonder the unprofessional and unclear statement from Microsoft.

What a huge disappointment that Opus has been removed from the Pro plan.

I’ve never reached my usage limit, and now I’m expected to pay an extra 30 bucks?
I’m switching straight to Claude Code.

I upgraded to copilot pro+ and opus 4.6 is not there neither!
In fact, opus 4.7 is at 7.3x multipler!! wtf!!

goodbye copilot.

Finally we can say, GoPilot

I just have to chime in too, since there doesn't seem to be anywhere else.

Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 are awesome models, at a reasonable cost. Why can't that be enough?

I upgraded, but still I can only use 4.7? Where is 4.6 at 3x?

This is disgraceful beyond belief.