Positron Assistant

WarningMinimum requirements for this course
  1. Positron Assistant enabled and connected to the GitHub Copilot provider.

Why? Positron Assistant is the built-in AI coding companion in Positron. It connects you to language models (GitHub Copilot, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, etc.) for chat-based help, inline code suggestions, and code completions — all inside the editor. Enabling it is required for the AI-assisted workflows used in this course.

Enabling Positron Assistant (from official docs)

The steps below are adapted from the Positron Assistant Getting Started guide.

Step 1 — Enable Positron Assistant

  1. Open Positron settings (Ctrl+,).
  2. Search for positron.assistant.enable and check the box.

Enable Positron Assistant setting

Enable Positron Assistant setting
  1. Restart Positron or run the Developer: Reload Window command in the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).

Step 2 — Configure a language model provider

Anthropic and GitHub Copilot are enabled by default. Other providers (Amazon Bedrock, Snowflake Cortex, OpenAI, Custom) are in preview/experimental and must be enabled through settings.

GitHub Copilot is enabled by default when you are signed in.

  1. Run the command Positron Assistant: Configure Language Model Providers (Ctrl+Shift+P).
  2. Select GitHub Copilot as the model provider.

GitHub Copilot selected in provider modal

GitHub Copilot selected in provider modal
  1. Select Sign in and complete the GitHub OAuth flow in your browser.
Note

You can also sign in to GitHub via the Accounts icon (bottom-left of the Activity Bar).

Step 3 — Use Positron Assistant

Once authenticated with at least one provider, open the Assistant chat:

  1. Select the chat robot icon in the sidebar, or run Chat: Open Chat from the Command Palette.

Assistant Sidebar Icon

Assistant Sidebar Icon

Assistant Panel

Assistant Panel
  1. Type your question in the chat input box and press Enter.

See the full Positron Assistant Getting Started guide for all provider options.

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