Copilot CLI Launches Tabs: Issues, PRs and Gists Without Leaving the Terminal (and Configure MCP Servers in Seconds)

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If you’ve been living in the terminal with Copilot CLI, the window you stare at all day just got reorganized. On June 23rd, GitHub brought general availability to the terminal interface redesign—the same one that premiered at Microsoft Build 2026. The central change is a tab-based layout that brings your GitHub work into the CLI itself, plus a guided setup flow that finally ends manual config file editing.

Let’s walk through what changed specifically and how to use it.

Tabs at the top of your session

An interactive Copilot CLI session now has tabs along the top. Press Tab to switch between the default Session tab and a Gists tab for your personal gists. Run the CLI inside a repository and two more appear: Issues and Pull requests, scoped to that repo.

This is the part that changes your day-to-day. Instead of jumping to the browser to grab an issue number, you stay where you are. Highlight an issue or PR and:

  • Press c to drop a direct reference in your prompt—then ask Copilot to investigate it, fix it, comment on it, or review it.
  • Press o to open the highlighted item in GitHub in your browser.
  • Press / in the Issues or Pull requests tab to search GitHub with your own query.

You can also click a tab with your mouse, and from settings you can reorder tabs, hide them, or turn off the bar entirely if it’s not your thing.

The workflow this unlocks is what’s interesting: you find the work, reference it with a single key, pass it to the agent—all without breaking your flow.

Configure your tools without editing a single file

This is the change most people will feel immediately. Configuring the tools that extend Copilot CLI is now a guided experience, within the session—no manual config file editing.

  • MCP servers: /mcp add opens an interactive form; /mcp search navigates the GitHub MCP Registry and installs a server directly. New servers are available instantly, no CLI restart.
  • Skills: /skills lets you enable or disable individual skills with arrow keys and spacebar.
  • Plugins: /plugin browses and installs plugins from a marketplace, repository, or local path.
  • Settings: /settings opens a dialog to view and change your configuration inline.

That “no restart” detail with /mcp search is the quiet victory. Adding an MCP server before meant editing JSON and rebooting the process. Now you search the registry, install, and keep working in the same session.

A cleaner and more accessible interface

The new interface uses semantic, theme-aware colors and responsive components that adapt to narrow terminals without truncating what you’re trying to read. Two practical improvements:

  • /theme changes color modes—default, dim, high-contrast, or colorblind—to match your terminal and your eyes.
  • Screen reader support activates automatically when one is detected, with labeled icons and animations that disable themselves.

How to get it

Run copilot update in your terminal. That’s it. Feedback goes through the /feedback command within a session, or you can open an issue on the public repo at github.com/github/copilot-cli.

The bigger picture: this is GitHub treating the terminal as a real workspace, not just a prompt box. Tabs, in-session tool configuration, and accessibility out of the box—it’s the kind of polish that makes a CLI something you actually want to live in.

Have you already migrated your workflow to Copilot CLI, or are you still jumping to the browser for everything? Tell us how you’re using it.

https://github.blog/changelog/2026-06-23-copilot-cli-new-terminal-interface-is-generally-available/