So, at this point you already learned
quite a bit about GitHub Copilot chat
and what you can do with the inline chat
and the separate chat in the sidebar.
Now there is one other interesting
feature about that sidebar chat.
Because of course you can use this chat
as you learned it to ask questions,
generate code, reference files, bring in
other participants, other context and so
on.
You can do all that, but there also is
another mode in which you can use this
chat.
There is this Copilot Edits mode as it's
called.
So the name is Copilot Edits.
And what's this mode all about?
Well, this mode here is in the end an
enhanced version of the chat you could
say.
It is a mode that's built or that's provided
to help with multi-file editing sessions.
So as it says here, it's about editing a set
of files, multiple files in an easy and
convenient way.
It's actually a feature inspired by Cursor's
Composer feature about which you will
learn later in the course in the Cursor
section.
The idea is that you can still ask your
questions here, like add user
authentication, if that would be a thing
you wanted to do in your application.
And you could bring in more files that
are irrelevant for that query with ease by
simply using Add Files and, and that's
the interesting part, when it comes to
fulfilling your request, when it comes to
answering, this mode here will actually
automatically suggest the creation of
new files and help with multi-file code
edits that are necessary due to your
prompt here.
So if I send that query, for example, it
automatically analyzes the files it already
has.
And if necessary, it would also consider
creating new files and then suggest the
specific edits that are needed in the
different files.
So this is a mode that simplifies the
process of making code changes across
multiple files so that you don't get one
long answer where you then have to
manually copy and paste code snippets
into the right files, but that it instead
makes those edits or suggests those
edits in multiple files automatically for
you.
So this copilot edits mode here can be
another very interesting mode you want
to consider using for making multi-file
code edits.
And as mentioned, it is a feature you'll
also see again later in the course, kind of,
in the cursor section, because cursor,
this AI-powered IDE, which we'll explore
in a later section, actually pioneered this
modus or a similar feature, which will
also help with working across multiple
files.
But it's good to know that it also exists
here in GitHub Copilot.