GitHub Copilot App My Work Pane Puts Agents on One Queue

The GitHub Copilot app’s My work pane now sits at the center of how many developers keep multiple agent sessions from colliding. GitHub’s third beginners post, published August 19, 2026, shows how the pane gathers pull requests and issues you have touched, then lets you filter, sort and hand them straight to new agent sessions without leaving the desktop app.

Real projects rarely stay linear. You fix one bug, review another PR and chase a fresh idea at the same time. As sessions multiply, the pane becomes the place that keeps the queue visible and actionable.

One Pane Holds Every Open Thread

Open My work in the sidebar and the app loads a scoped list of issues and pull requests. The list is not every repository you can reach. It automatically includes only projects you have already opened inside the Copilot app. Touch a new repo with a quick session and it appears.

Default sections give an immediate split between work that needs eyes and work that is finished. You can edit default sections or add filters so the same pane matches how your team actually triages.

• All shows every pull request and issue from the touched projects in one stream.
• Active surfaces open items still in flight.
• Review requests lists pull requests waiting for your review.
• Done collects everything already closed.

That split alone cuts the time spent hunting across browser tabs and notification inboxes.

Build Views That Match How You Work

Built-in tabs are only the start. Select New view, rename the placeholder, and add filters. GitHub’s angle-bracket syntax works if you already know it, but the UI picker is friendlier for first runs.

A practical starter is a “My issues” view: filter Is: Issue plus Assignee: Me, then save. The pane now shows only the issues sitting on your plate. Quick filters at the top let you flip sort order from Recently updated to Ascending so the oldest items rise first. You can save the change as a brand-new view, update the current one, or discard and revert.

Search inside any section accepts keywords or qualifiers such as label:bug. The combination of saved views and live search keeps the same pane useful whether you are a solo maintainer or part of a larger queue.

List Cards or Full Table Control

Items open in list view by default, a set of cards that are easy to scan. Switch to table view when you want more density and control. The table lets you pick columns, drag their order and resize them to fit your habits. Reset returns everything to the original layout, and you can flip back to list whenever the cards feel cleaner.

Neither layout locks you in. Experiment freely; the reset path is always there.

Turn Any Item Into a Fresh Agent Session

Select an issue or pull request to open its detail. From there start a brand-new session. Tell Copilot to get to work and the agent loads the item as context. Back in the list you can multi-select several items, open Actions and create sessions in bulk.

Two common patterns appear immediately. Independent feature requests each get their own session so agents run side by side. Related bug reports that all touch the same feature can be bundled into one session. You can also change the repository the session uses when the issue lives in a docs or tracking repo while the code lives elsewhere.

Official docs spell out the same flow: browse My work, click the issue, choose New session, pick a mode such as Plan or Interactive, then prompt. The app keeps the conversation and the resulting changes in one place so you can steer without losing the original ticket.

Create Issues and Tighten the Repository Scope on the Spot

Two controls sit near the top of the pane. The repository filter defaults to All Repositories, still limited to projects already touched in the app. Narrow it when you want to focus on one codebase.

New issue lets you file something immediately. Want a light-mode toggle? Create the issue and kick off a session that already carries that issue as context. The loop from idea to tracked work to agent handoff stays inside the same window.

You can also create issues or pull requests from inside an existing session; the agent respects repository templates when you ask it to.

Why Parallel Agents Stopped Feeling Like Chaos

The pane only makes sense once you see the larger design of the Copilot app. Launched in technical preview at Microsoft Build on June 2, 2026, and opened to every Copilot plan (including Free and bring-your-own-key) on July 7, the app treats agents as first-class workers rather than chat sidekicks.

Every session runs in its own git worktree, an isolated copy of the branch. Agents no longer step on each other’s files. The app creates and cleans those worktrees automatically. From a single My Work view across repositories you watch active sessions, issues, pull requests and background automations at once.

Our Forward Deployed Engineers can dispatch a cohort of agents and manage multiple initiatives, all from one location.

David Jobling, Master Technology Architect, Avanade Inc., GitHub blog

That control-center framing matches what early users describe on X. James Montemagno wrote that he is “sort of in love with agent orchestration,” watching a loop that checks in, creates PRs, validates tests, opens new issues and continues until done via /orchestrate. Pierce Boggan shared a short tip for turning an existing session into a saved automation. The pane is where those loops become visible instead of scattered across terminals.

Earlier coverage on this site already framed the same shift: the app turns developers into AI fleet managers. My work is the dashboard that makes the fleet manageable.

1. June 2, 2026, Technical preview announced at Microsoft Build; My Work view and isolated worktrees introduced for Pro, Pro+, Business and Enterprise.
2. July 7, 2026, App opened to every Copilot plan, including Free and Education, plus BYOK; macOS, Windows and Linux supported.
3. August 2026, Beginners series and rapid point releases (v1.1.x) add My Work repo-rename detection, background items, stacked PR navigation and orchestration polish.

GitHub has also published that commits on the platform nearly doubled year over year to more than 1.4 billion per month. More code and more agent output raise the cost of losing track. The pane is the product answer to that volume.

What Review and Merge Look Like Inside the Same Window

Click a pull request in My work and you see the summary, CI results and review activity. Switch to Files changed for the diff. Start a session on the PR to leave comments or ask the agent for changes. When ready, submit the review from the app or jump to the browser or another IDE.

Failing checks or review comments get a Fix button that hands the problem to an agent. Agent merge, toggled at the top, can watch the PR, repair blockers and merge once conditions clear. It survives app restarts and turns itself off after the merge. You decide how far automation is allowed to go.

Those steps keep the human in the judgment seat while the mechanical parts of the PR lifecycle stay local to the same pane that started the work.

Getting the App and Keeping the Queue Clean

The desktop app is available for download for macOS Windows and Linux on any Copilot plan. Business and Enterprise admins keep a separate policy that must stay enabled. Session modes let you choose Interactive collaboration, Plan-then-approve, or full Autopilot. Model selection and reasoning effort can be set per session, and global instructions apply across them.

Docs emphasize matching model power to task complexity and starting a fresh session when you switch tasks so context stays clean. The same advice applies to My work: keep views tight, archive or close finished items into Done, and let the Active and Review tabs stay short enough to scan in seconds.

Users already treat the pane as mission control rather than a simple list. Funny auto-generated worktree names get screenshots; release notes that improve My Work rename handling get shared; orchestration loops that keep producing until the queue empties draw the strongest praise. The disruption is quiet but concrete: the old habit of one IDE window, one browser tab and one mental thread no longer matches how agentic work actually ships.

Keep the views current, hand work to agents from the items themselves, and the balls stay in the air instead of on the floor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What default sections appear in the GitHub Copilot app My work pane?

My work opens with All, Active, Review requests and Done. All aggregates touched projects; Active holds open items; Review requests shows PRs awaiting your review; Done holds closed work. You can edit or replace any of them with custom filters.

How do I create a custom view that shows only my assigned issues?

Choose New view, rename it, add the filter Is: Issue and the filter Assignee: Me, then save. The new view appears alongside the defaults and can be sorted or further refined later.

Can I start multiple agent sessions from several issues at once?

Yes. In list view multi-select the items, open Actions and create new sessions. Independent features can each receive their own session; related bugs can share one session. You may also override the repository the session targets.

Does every agent session use its own git worktree?

Yes. The app creates an isolated worktree and branch for each session so parallel agents do not overwrite one another. Cleanup is handled automatically when the session ends.

Which Copilot plans include the desktop app?

Every plan, including Free, Education, Pro, Pro+, Business and Enterprise. Bring-your-own-key is also supported. Business and Enterprise require the app policy to remain enabled.