Coverage chart / GitHub Copilot

How to update GitHub Copilot on your Mac

GitHub Copilot is published as the Homebrew cask github-copilot-app, and the app can also update itself. Below is how to run that update yourself, then how Floodtide does it for you, alongside every other app on the Mac. Homebrew describes GitHub Copilot as "Native client for GitHub Copilot".

Update GitHub Copilot by hand

  1. Let GitHub Copilot update itself. Open GitHub Copilot. It checks for new versions on its own, and if it has not offered one yet, look in the GitHub Copilot menu, or under Help or its preferences, for Check for Updates, then let it download and relaunch.
  2. Upgrade the Homebrew cask. If you installed GitHub Copilot with Homebrew, open Terminal and run brew upgrade --cask github-copilot-app. Homebrew downloads the current build, checks it against the checksum it publishes and replaces the app in your Applications folder.
  3. Or download it from github.com. Otherwise get the current build from github.com, which is the same download Homebrew points at. Quit GitHub Copilot, open the download and put the new GitHub Copilot in Applications in place of the old one: a disk image is dragged across, an installer package runs its own steps. Your settings and documents live outside the app and are kept.
brew upgrade --cask github-copilot-app

That is one app. The same walk, through a different menu or page each time, is what every other app on the Mac asks of you, which is where Floodtide comes in.

The shorter route: one click in Floodtide

Floodtide reads the same Homebrew record for GitHub Copilot that the brew command above does, without needing Homebrew installed, to learn which version is current. When yours is behind, the row appears under Updates with the version it will move to and the download size. Pressing Update, or Update All, does the rest:

  • The vendor's own build is downloaded, several apps at a time, with real progress.
  • The download is verified against the checksum the catalogue publishes.
  • GitHub Copilot is asked to quit politely if it is open, and never forced.
  • The bundle is swapped and the old version kept for seven days, so Undo Last Update always works.
  • The replacement's code signature is checked; a build signed worse than the one you had is rolled back automatically.

Every download of GitHub Copilot is checked against the checksum Homebrew publishes before anything is replaced.

If GitHub Copilot lives in a folder macOS protects, the swap asks for your administrator password once for the whole batch, exactly as the Finder does when you install anything by hand.

What Floodtide knows about GitHub Copilot

Floodtide reads
the Homebrew cask github-copilot-app
Developer
github.com
Version the source named on 18 October 2026
1.1.30
Downloads come from
github.com
Installed by Floodtide
Yes, in one click, with the rest of your apps.
Updates itself
Yes, when you open it. Floodtide covers it anyway, so the Mac is checked whether or not you do.
Each download is checked against
the checksum Homebrew publishes

Read from the source on 18 October 2026. The app reads it live.

Questions about GitHub Copilot

Does Floodtide update GitHub Copilot?

Yes. GitHub Copilot also ships its own updater, so it can keep itself current when you launch it. Floodtide covers it anyway, because a self-updating app only updates when you happen to open it, and it tells you nothing about the other apps on the Mac. Floodtide shows GitHub Copilot beside everything else and updates the whole set in one pass.

How does Floodtide install a new version of GitHub Copilot?

It downloads the vendor's official build, verifies it against the checksum the catalogue publishes, quits GitHub Copilot if it is running, swaps the bundle, and keeps the previous version for seven days so the update can be undone.

Will updating GitHub Copilot lose my settings?

No. Floodtide replaces the application only. Preferences, licences and documents live outside it and are untouched.