GitHub & Copilot

WarningMinimum requirements for this course
  1. A personal GitHub account
  2. GitHub Copilot access (private or institutional)
  3. Available premium requests — check here

Why? GitHub hosts your code and enables version-controlled collaboration. It also provides GitHub Copilot, an AI assistant that suggests and completes code directly in your editor.

Quick start

  1. Create a GitHub account with your personal email (not your WB email).

  2. Join the github.com/worldbank organization.

  3. Get GitHub Copilot — either request access from WB or subscribe privately.

  4. Set up a premium request budget (recommended) — your plan includes a monthly allowance (WB: 300, Pro: 500, Pro+: 1,500). Once exhausted, advanced models are blocked unless you enable overuse billing:

Questions? Email github@worldbank.org.

Premium requests

GitHub Copilot’s advanced features (Chat, Agent mode, Claude/GPT models) consume premium requests. Each plan includes a monthly allowance:

Plan Premium requests / month
Institutional WB org 300
Private Copilot Pro 500
Private Copilot Pro+ 1,500

Once you hit the limit, advanced AI features (Ask and Agent mode,Claude) are unavailable for the rest of the month. Basic inline completions still work, but with older, less capable models.

Check your usage → GitHub Settings > Copilot, scroll to “Usage”.

To avoid hitting the limit, enable premium requests budget (~$0.04/request):

  • Private plan → GitHub > Settings > Budgets and Alerts > + New Budget

  • WB plan → setup chargeback. Setting up private usage limit using a credit card is not possible for WB org members.

  • Note: You can only have one active plan: private or institutional. If you have a private subscription and get institutional WB access, your private subscription is automatically cancelled and remaining balance is refunded. Exiting institutional subscription (e.g. leaving WB org) is only possible in the end of the month and does not restore private subscription — you would need to resubscribe privately if you want to switch back.

Access levels

Setup Repos Copilot
No GitHub account ✅ Public / ❌ Personal / ❌ WB ❌
Personal account (free) +✅Personal / ❌ WB ⚠️ Only old LLMs
+ Copilot Pro/Pro+ (private) +✅Personal / ❌ WB ✅Claude+ 300/1500
+ Premium requests budget (private) +✅Personal / ❌ WB ✅ + extra at 0.04$/request
WB Org member +✅ WB ⚠️ No premium requests
+ or Private Copilot and premium requests budget +✅ WB ✅Claude+ 300/1500 (+ extra)
+ or WB Copilot access +✅ WB ✅ 300 req/mo
+ WB chargeback +✅ WB ✅ + extra at 0.04$/request

Step-by-step setup

1. Create a GitHub account

Sign up at https://github.com/signup. Use your personal email address, not your World Bank email.

2. Join the WB GitHub organization

  1. Submit a Join GitHub Organization request on eServices.
  2. Accept the invitation email (sent to your private email linked with your GitHub account).
  3. Confirm membership by following the link in the email.
    • Invitations expire after 7 days — resubmit through eServices if needed.

See WB GitHub Enterprise Overview for details.

Inactivity policy. Members inactive for several months may be removed automatically. Resubmit the eServices request to rejoin. This does not affect your personal GitHub account or Copilot subscription.

3. Get GitHub Copilot

Choose one of the following:

After joining the WB org, go to GitHub Settings > Copilot:

  1. Scroll to “Get Copilot from an organization” and click Request access from worldbank.

    Request access button

    Request access button

  2. Email github@worldbank.org:

    • Subject: Request GitHub Copilot Access
    • Body: your GitHub username + brief reason
    • CC: your manager

Purchase Copilot Pro or Pro+. This works independently of WB org membership.

Note

Once you receive WB Copilot access, your private subscription is automatically cancelled and refunded. You cannot easily switch back to a private subscription afterward.

4. Verify Copilot access

Go to GitHub Settings > Copilot and confirm your status:

No Copilot access

No Copilot access

Copilot access confirmed

Copilot access confirmed

Note: If you have copilot access from the WB, you will see “Managed by worldbank”.

5. Check premium requests usage

Go to GitHub Settings > Copilot

GH Copilot 100% use limit

GH Copilot 100% use limit
  • 0–100% — share of your monthly allowance used so far.
  • 100%+ — overuse; billed at ~$0.04/request if a budget is enabled.
  • Resets monthly — usage drops to 0% at the start of each billing cycle.
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