GitHub has partnered with Google Cloud to bring the Gemini 1.5 Pro model to GitHub Copilot, offering developers an AI tool that can handle up to two million tokens. Gemini 1.5 Pro, designed for tasks like code generation, analysis, and optimization, will soon be available across platforms like Visual Studio Code, adding flexibility for developers working with large codebases.
Gemini 1.5 Pro is designed for common coding tasks like generation, analysis, and optimization. A key feature of this model is its extensive context window, capable of processing up to two million tokens, the largest among current large-scale AI models. This expanded capacity enables Gemini to analyze extensive codebases, handling over 100,000 lines in a single session. These capabilities provide developers with detailed insights and explanations for large or complex codebases.
Dawid Ostrowski, a senior program manager in Google’s Developer Ecosystem team, highlighted this feature:
Gemini 1.5 Pro is natively multimodal and features a long context window of up to two million tokens — the longest of any large-scale foundation model — so developers can process more than 100,000 lines of code, suggest helpful modifications, and explain how different parts of the code work.
Developers using GitHub Copilot will be able to select Gemini 1.5 Pro during conversations with GitHub Copilot Chat, Visual Studio Code, and with Copilot extensions for Visual Studio.
This integration has generated a lot of interest within the community. On LinkedIn, Kamal Kothyari shared his thoughts:
This is pretty cool! Gemini’s advanced reasoning abilities may lead to more accurate and efficient coding assistance across diverse projects. Really interested to see how it handles larger codebases with that 2M token window.
Some questions have come up about access and cost. In a recent Reddit discussion, a user asked if Gemini 1.5 Pro would be free, and another user clarified that it is included as part of the GitHub Copilot subscription, with free access available for students from recognized institutions.
Gemini models already support popular developer platforms through Google AI tools like Vertex AI, Google AI Studio, and Gemini Code Assist, which is accessible in several IDEs, including JetBrains tools (such as IntelliJ and PyCharm) and Visual Studio Code. The upcoming integration with GitHub Copilot will provide developers with more options for fine-tuning their coding workflows, especially for those working with extensive or complex codebases.
Further details about the partnership between GitHub and Google can be found on the GitHub blog.
