Opening keynote: building the next era of software at GitHub Universe 2026
April Leonard, Jay Parikh, Cassidy Williams, Burke Holland, and Damian Brady introduce new developer tools and workflows through announcements and live demonstrations. The keynote connects updates to Copilot with GitHub’s shift toward agent-driven development.
Keynote overview
The session covers GitHub Copilot App and connectors, Copilot Fusion, App Canvases, Copilot Dreaming, Projects, and automations. It also addresses agent-powered quality and security, the rebuilding of GitHub’s core infrastructure, and the future of software development.
Chapters
- 00:00 — GitHub’s growth and agentic shift: Opening context for GitHub’s move toward agent-driven development.
- 03:26 — Evolving for the agentic era: Changes to support autonomous agent workflows.
- 06:10 — GitHub Copilot App and connectors: Updates across the Copilot App and connectors.
- 09:39 — Copilot Fusion, Copilot App Canvases, and Copilot Dreaming: A segment introducing these Copilot capabilities.
- 14:55 — Copilot Projects and Copilot automations: Updates focused on projects and automation.
- 19:59 — Agent-powered quality and security: The role of agents in software quality and security.
- 31:25 — Rebuilding GitHub’s core infrastructure: Changes to the infrastructure underlying GitHub.
- 40:00 — The future of software development: Closing discussion of where developer tools and workflows are heading.
Speakers
- April Leonard: VP of Engineering for GitHub Copilot, GitHub
- Jay Parikh: Executive Vice President, CoreAI, Microsoft
- Cassidy Williams: Senior Director, Developer Advocacy, GitHub
- Burke Holland: Principal Cloud Advocate, Microsoft
- Damian Brady: Staff Developer Advocate, GitHub