GitHub Copilot CLI Update: Faster, Shorter and Cleaner Output

GitHub's command-line Copilot has been shipping small releases almost daily, and the latest batch is less about new capabilities than about making the existing ones feel lighter. The assistant now gets to an answer in fewer steps, prints less noise, and behaves more consistently across terminals and operating systems.

Leaner Answers by Design

The biggest change happens behind the scenes: GitHub retuned the prompts that drive the agent so it stays on topic and stops padding its replies. Measured against the Terminal-Bench suite, the difference is noticeable:

• roughly 15% fewer steps needed to finish a task
• about 17% fewer input tokens and 15% fewer output tokens
• average task time down by around a quarter
• median task time cut nearly in half (about 45%)

For day-to-day use, this mostly shows up as short, direct answers to simple questions. Fewer tokens also means lower cost and less scrolling through output you never needed.

A Tidier Terminal Interface

Building on interface work from the previous week, the timeline view got another pass. File edits now display their diffs automatically, so there is no longer a need to expand them with Ctrl+R. Markdown output uses a revised color scheme that is easier to read, and rendering in windows narrower than 80 columns no longer falls apart.

Small Input Improvements

The prompt line picked up several quality-of-life tweaks:

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• Once a slash command has an argument, Tab no longer cycles through completions.
• Slash commands show hints about the arguments they expect while typing.
• In terminals that implement the Kitty keyboard protocol, Shift+Tab inserts a new line for multi-line input; broader terminal support is planned.
• Ctrl+B and Ctrl+F move the cursor back and forward, matching familiar shell keybindings.

Better Behavior on Windows

PowerShell users get a set of targeted fixes. Writing files is significantly faster than before, and commands no longer fail in setups that rely on custom profiles or unusual shell configuration. The stated goal is parity with the Linux and macOS experience, with further fixes driven by user reports.

Other Fixes Worth Knowing

• Proxy configuration now works on every supported Node.js version.
• Starting the CLI with --screen-reader offers to remember that preference for later sessions.
• Pasted text no longer truncates the prompt that gets sent to the model.
• /clear now correctly resets the tracking used for context compaction.

Taken together, the update is a good example of polish compounding: none of these changes is dramatic alone, but a faster, quieter assistant with fewer rough edges is one people actually keep open in their terminal. The daily release notes are the place to watch for what comes next.