Domain 1 of 6 · Chapter 4 of 4

Manage Organization-Wide Settings and Policies

Unlock the complete study guide.

Bundled into the existing GitHub Copilot premium course — no separate purchase.

14-day money-back guarantee — no questions asked.

Included in this chapter:

  • Organization owner controls for Copilot
  • The access chain: plan, seat, policy, surface
  • Where policies live: the Policies and Models pages
  • Whose policy governs a member
  • Enabling Copilot code review for members
  • Scoping automatic reviews across repositories
  • Investigating changes with the audit log
  • Managing seats with the Copilot user management REST API
  • Situations and the organization controls that answer them

Which organization control answers which question

Question the owner is askingCopilot policies (Policies and Models pages)Audit logCopilot user management REST API
Turn a feature or a Chat model on or off for membersYes: the Policies page for features, the Models page for Chat modelsNo: it records the change afterwardsNo: it reads policy state, but settings are changed on GitHub.com
Find who changed a policy or setting, and whenNo: the page shows the current valueYes: `action:copilot` events from the last 180 daysNo
Give or remove Copilot access for users or teamsNo: access comes from seat assignment, not from a policy (one exception: a policy can open Copilot code review on GitHub.com to members without a license)Records seat events, such as `copilot.cfb_seat_assignment_created`Yes: add or remove users or teams (removal takes effect at the end of the billing cycle); the organization settings do the same
Check whether an assigned seat is being usedNoNo: it records Copilot plan changes and agent activity, not per-seat usagePartly: `last_activity_at` per seat, with IDE activity only when IDE telemetry is enabled
Read the prompts a user sent to Copilot locallyNoNo: client session data is excludedNo

Decision tree

Changing which features or Chat models members can use? Is the organization setting read-only? Enterprise owner changes the enterprise policy Copilot policies: Policies page or Models page Finding who changed a setting, policy or license, and when? Audit log: action:copilot (last 180 days) Adding or removing seats for users or teams? Organization settings or the Copilot user management REST API Missing feature: check plan, seat, policy, surface in order yes yes no no yes no yes no
Cheat sheet

Cheat sheet

  • Organization policies govern features for users licensed by that organization
  • An organization cannot override a policy fixed by its enterprise
  • An organization-provided plan replaces a member's individual Copilot plan
  • Feature availability and additional model availability are separate policy areas
  • Policy must be evaluated for the surface where the feature is used
  • GitHub.com enablement gates organization preview and feedback options
  • The Editor preview features policy can gate the inline model picker
  • A feature requirement must be matched to a plan before its policy is configured
  • Organization-provided users need the Copilot code review policy enabled
  • Code review for members without licenses requires both paid usage and explicit access
  • Organization owners can scope automatic reviews across selected repositories
  • Enabled code review can fall back when agentic runner capabilities are unavailable
  • The audit log records Copilot plan, policy, setting, and license changes
  • Audit-log filters distinguish Copilot plan events from agent activity
  • The standard Copilot audit log does not contain local prompt transcripts
  • Stream audit events when an investigation needs history beyond GitHub retention
  • Content exclusion changes are auditable
  • Copilot REST endpoints expose subscription settings and assigned seats
  • Subscription endpoints assign Copilot seats to users or teams
  • Subscription endpoints revoke Copilot access by user or team
  • Seat-changing API calls require stronger authorization than seat reads
  • IDE activity in seat records depends on client telemetry
  • Removing the final assigned seat cancels the organization's Copilot plan

Unlock with Premium — includes all practice exams and the complete study guide.

References

  1. https://docs.github.com/en/rest/copilot/copilot-user-management
  2. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/agents/code-review
  3. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/administer-copilot/manage-for-organization/manage-policies
  4. https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/managing-your-enterprise-account/about-enterprise-accounts
  5. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/enterprise/policies
  6. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/copilot-billing/seat-assignment
  7. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/gh-300
  8. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/get-started/plans
  9. https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/learning-about-github/githubs-plans
  10. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/supported-surfaces-for-policies
  11. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/agents/cloud-agent/about-cloud-agent
  12. https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/budgets-and-alerts
  13. https://docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/cost-centers
  14. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/use-ai-models/change-the-completion-model
  15. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/completions/code-suggestions
  16. https://github.blog/changelog/2026-08-28-upcoming-changes-to-github-copilot-policies-and-billing/
  17. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-on-github/set-up-copilot/enable-copilot/set-up-for-organization
  18. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-on-github/set-up-copilot/configure-code-review
  19. https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/managing-iam/understanding-iam-for-enterprises/about-enterprise-managed-users
  20. https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/configuring-branches-and-merges-in-your-repository/managing-rulesets/creating-rulesets-for-a-repository
  21. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/administer-copilot/manage-for-enterprise/review-audit-logs
  22. https://docs.github.com/en/rest/copilot/copilot-metrics
  23. https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/keeping-your-organization-secure/managing-security-settings-for-your-organization/reviewing-the-audit-log-for-your-organization
  24. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/enterprise-administrators/agentic-audit-log-events
  25. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/configure-content-exclusion/review-changes
  26. https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/keeping-your-organization-secure/managing-security-settings-for-your-organization/audit-log-events-for-your-organization
  27. https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/monitoring-activity-in-your-enterprise/reviewing-audit-logs-for-your-enterprise/streaming-the-audit-log-for-your-enterprise
  28. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/administer-copilot/manage-for-organization/manage-access/grant-access
  29. https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/administer-copilot/manage-for-organization/manage-access/revoke-access
  30. https://cli.github.com/manual/gh_api