Rebeca Moen
Feb 19, 2026 18:54
GitHub adds PR throughput and merge time metrics to Copilot API, letting enterprises measure AI coding assistant’s real impact on development velocity.
GitHub rolled out new enterprise-level metrics for its Copilot usage API on February 19, giving organizations concrete data on how the AI coding assistant affects pull request workflows. The update tracks PR throughput, time-to-merge, and whether Copilot-assisted code actually makes it into production.
The new API endpoints measure three specific areas: pull request review suggestions and their acceptance rates, PRs created with Copilot’s coding agent that ultimately got merged, and overall cycle time from PR creation to merge. Enterprise admins and users with the ‘View Enterprise Copilot Metrics’ role can access the data.
This expansion builds on GitHub’s Copilot Metrics API, which hit general availability back in October 2024 for Business and Enterprise customers. That initial release covered PR summaries and chat interactions on GitHub.com, with metrics aggregated daily and 28 days of historical data available via REST endpoints.
Why does this matter for tech-focused investors watching Microsoft? The metrics directly address a persistent challenge with AI development tools—proving ROI. Engineering leaders have struggled to quantify whether Copilot subscriptions translate to faster shipping. Now they can pull hard numbers on merge velocity and see if AI-suggested code reviews actually stick.
GitHub has been steadily expanding Copilot’s measurement capabilities. A public preview in late 2025 added daily and weekly active user counts, agent adoption rates, and language-specific usage patterns. The February 19 update shifts focus from usage volume to outcomes—a signal that GitHub wants enterprises evaluating renewals to see production impact, not just seat utilization.
The feature requires enabling ‘Copilot usage metrics’ in AI Controls settings. One limitation worth noting: these metrics pull from IDE telemetry and won’t capture activity from GitHub Mobile, Copilot CLI, or the web-based chat interface.
For Microsoft’s enterprise software narrative, this positions Copilot as measurably productivity-enhancing rather than just another AI feature checkbox. The company reports earnings in late April—expect Copilot adoption metrics to feature prominently if this data shows what GitHub hopes it will.
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