We’re excited to announce that GitHub Copilot’s Agent Mode and Model Context Protocol (MCP) support are now available in public preview for Xcode! This brings powerful autonomous coding capabilities to macOS developers using Xcode.

What is Agent Mode?

Agent Mode turns GitHub Copilot into an intelligent pair programmer that can understand your intent, plan multi-step tasks, and execute them—all through natural language. Unlike traditional autocomplete, Agent Mode is designed for more complex workflows. You can switch to Agent Mode when your task involves multiple steps, needs to integrate with external systems (like an MCP server), or when you’d rather let Copilot figure out the best way to get it done.

In Xcode, Agent Mode can:

• Understand your project: It analyzes your codebase to build context, including structure, dependencies, and logic.
• Plan and propose changes: Based on your request, it generates a step-by-step plan whether you’re refactoring, adding features, or debugging.
• Execute changes automatically: Once the plan is ready, Copilot carries it out automatically—editing files, running terminal commands, and handling errors. You can review each change in the chat’s View Diff panel and choose to Keep or Undo these updates as needed.
• Summarize results: After completing the task, Copilot provides a clear summary of what was done.

Here’s a quick demo of Agent Mode in action. Let’s see how it helps add new features to the HomeView, and adapts to support a new UX toggle while developing an iPhone app. All of this is done automatically, from a single prompt.

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that allows AI models to interact with external tools and services. In Xcode, MCP extends Agent Mode by enabling it to invoke tools contributed by MCP servers—unlocking workflows like querying file metadata, running diagnostics, or integrating with custom services.

How to Set Up MCP in Xcode

1. Open the GitHub Copilot for Xcode app
2. Click the 🛠️ Tool Picker in Agent Mode
3. Select Edit Config and define your MCP servers (e.g., via mcp.json)

You may use this JSON file as a starter:

{ 
    "servers": { 
        "memory": { 
            "command": "npx", 
            "args": [ 
                "-y", 
                "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory" 
            ] 
        } 
    } 
}

Once configured, you can use natural language to call tools exposed by your MCP server. For example, you can ask the agent to get the last modified time of the current files, and it will route the request through the appropriate tool.

Try It Today

Agent Mode and MCP support are now available in public preview for all Xcode users. To get started, install or update to the latest version of GitHub Copilot for Xcode. To access GitHub Copilot for Xcode, you’ll need a Copilot license . Simply sign in with your GitHub account and start using AI-powered assistance in your Xcode IDE.

You can read more in our official documentation: 

• Using Agent mode
• Getting started with MCP 

We’d Love Your Feedback

Your feedback is essential in shaping the future of GitHub Copilot for Xcode! Share your thoughts our feedback channel or join the GitHub Community to discuss your experiences and provide suggestions.

Try it out today, explore what’s possible, and let us know what you think. We can’t wait to see what you build.