GitHub presents a session led by Brittany Ellich, examining how developers can utilize Copilot coding agent and AI workflows to tackle technical debt and keep codebases modern.

Tackling Your Tech Debt with Copilot Coding Agent

Speaker: Brittany Ellich, Senior Software Engineer, GitHub

Introduction: Tackling Technical Debt

Technical debt has traditionally been deprioritized in favor of customer-facing features, often resulting in legacy code maintenance challenges. With modern AI agents, developers now have tools to address tech debt efficiently.

The Problem with Tech Debt Management

  • Many improvement items are identified but rarely prioritized.
  • Backlogs grow as tech debt accumulates, creating risks for future maintainability.

Your New Accelerator: The Copilot Coding Agent

  • GitHub Copilot coding agent acts as an AI partner within development workflows.
  • Assign tech debt issues directly to Copilot for automated modernization and refactoring support.

Demo: Assigning a Tech Debt Issue to Copilot

  • Demonstrates the process of delegating specific backlog items to the Copilot agent.
  • Showcases Copilot’s ability to suggest improvements, refactor code, and modernize legacy logic.

The WRAP Strategy for Eliminating Tech Debt

  • Overview of the WRAP methodology to systematically address technical debt using AI:
    • Workflow integration
    • Refactoring automation
    • Assignment of issues
    • Prioritization with AI support

A Developer’s Daily Workflow with Copilot

  • Developers interact with Copilot to:
    • Identify modernization opportunities
    • Receive intelligent suggestions for technical debt resolution
    • Automate routine code maintenance tasks

Assign Your Backlog to Copilot

  • How backlog grooming and issue assignment can be streamlined using Copilot.
  • Empowers teams to keep the codebase agile and up to date without sacrificing customer enhancements.

Additional Resources

GitHub is home to over 100 million developers from around the world, supporting collaborative software creation through tools like Copilot Coding Agent.