Feature
GitHub
GitHub deprecates four selectable Copilot models — Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code, and Claude Opus 4.7 — across all Copilot experiences on 2 October 2026, directing users to newer replacements
departs 2 Oct 2026
Quick answers
- Is it true that GitHub Copilot deprecates Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code, and Claude Opus 4.7 on 2 October 2026?
- Yes. GitHub has officially announced it, effective 2 Oct 2026. GitHub is deprecating four models that today appear in the GitHub Copilot model selector — **Gemini 3.5 Flash**, **Gemini 3.6 Flash**, **Kimi K2.7 Code**, and **Claude Opus 4.7** — on **2 October 2026**, across every Copilot surface: Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions.
- When does it take effect?
- 2 Oct 2026. Verified against the vendor's own announcement.
- What should I use instead?
- Before 2 October 2026, move each deprecated model to its GitHub-suggested replacement: Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 3.6 Flash both to **Gemini 3.8 Flash**, Kimi K2.7 Code to **Kimi K3**, and Claude Opus 4.7 to **Claude Opus 5**.
What this means for you
GitHub is deprecating four models that today appear in the GitHub Copilot model selector — **Gemini 3.5 Flash**, **Gemini 3.6 Flash**, **Kimi K2.7 Code**, and **Claude Opus 4.7** — on **2 October 2026**, across every Copilot surface: Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions. For most individual developers this is a light change: GitHub says no action is required to remove the models once deprecated, and picking a model from the Copilot menu simply means choosing a supported one instead. The people who need to act are those who have written one of these model names down somewhere — a script or integration that selects a Copilot model by identifier through the Copilot API, a CI step pinned to a specific model, or a Copilot Enterprise / Copilot Business policy that allow-lists particular models. After 2 October those references no longer resolve to a live model, so requests that name a deprecated model fail or fall back rather than run on the intended model. Enterprise and Business administrators have an extra step: the suggested replacements may need to be enabled through model policies in Copilot settings before users can pick them.
Where to go
Before 2 October 2026, move each deprecated model to its GitHub-suggested replacement: Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 3.6 Flash both to **Gemini 3.8 Flash**, Kimi K2.7 Code to **Kimi K3**, and Claude Opus 4.7 to **Claude Opus 5**. Update any workflow, integration, script, or configuration that names one of the retiring models by identifier. Copilot Enterprise and Copilot Business administrators should enable the replacement models through their model policies in Copilot settings and confirm each shows up in the Copilot Chat model selector, so users can actually pick it. Individuals who just choose a model from the Copilot menu need do nothing — the old option is removed and the replacement is available in its place. Enterprise customers with specific concerns are directed to their GitHub account team.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash — GitHub's suggested replacement for both Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 3.6 Flash
- Kimi K3 — GitHub's suggested replacement for Kimi K2.7 Code
- Claude Opus 5 — GitHub's suggested replacement for Claude Opus 4.7
GitHub has announced that four models currently selectable inside GitHub Copilot will be deprecated on 2 October 2026. The official changelog post lists them with their replacements:
- Gemini 3.5 Flash → Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Gemini 3.6 Flash → Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Kimi K2.7 Code → Kimi K3
- Claude Opus 4.7 → Claude Opus 5
The deprecation applies across all Copilot experiences — Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions. GitHub’s framing is that this is model-lifecycle maintenance, not a feature removal: there is no data to export, and “no action is required to remove the models after they have been deprecated.”
For most developers the change is invisible. If you pick a model from the Copilot menu, you will simply choose a supported one — and in most cases the newer replacement is already the better default. The people who need to do something before the date are the ones who have pinned a model by name: a script or integration selecting a Copilot model through the API, a CI step tied to a specific model, or a Copilot Enterprise / Copilot Business policy that allow-lists particular models. After 2 October, a request that names one of the four retiring models no longer runs on that model.
Enterprise and Business administrators have one extra task. The suggested replacements may need to be enabled through model policies in Copilot settings before they appear in the model selector for users. GitHub’s guidance is to verify availability in your organization or enterprise Copilot model settings and confirm the policy is enabled, so the replacement shows up in the Copilot Chat model selector. Customers with specific concerns are pointed to their GitHub account team.
This is the second GitHub Copilot model deprecation on the calendar this autumn, after the MAI-Code-1-Flash deprecation on 10 September — a reminder that model availability inside Copilot is a moving target, and that anything which names a Copilot model in code or policy needs a periodic check against GitHub’s supported-models list.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Entry created from GitHub's official changelog post (3 September 2026), which lists the four deprecated models, the shared 2 October 2026 deprecation date, and each suggested replacement — all quoted directly from the announcement table. detect left empty deliberately: unlike a Copilot-exclusive model id (e.g. MAI-Code-1-Flash), these are third-party model names (Gemini, Kimi, Claude) that appear widely in codebases using those models directly through their own vendors' APIs — where this GitHub Copilot deprecation does not apply — so a text fingerprint would fire on users this change does not affect (SOURCING §5: never ship a fingerprint that produces false alarms).
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