AI coding model deprecations, Oct–Dec 2026

GitHub Copilot: retired on Oct 19, 2026

Deprecated across most Copilot experiences, including Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions (GitHub changelog).

GitHub Copilot: retiring on Nov 16, 2026

Deprecated across all Copilot experiences on Nov 16 (GitHub changelog). *Claude Opus 4.8 stays available to individual Copilot subscribers on annual plans.

Under default model enablement, GitHub says the suggested replacements are turned on automatically for Copilot Business and Enterprise unless an admin turned off the global default or disabled the model. If you did, enable them in your Copilot model policies.

Claude Design: standalone app closes by Dec 14, 2026

Claude Code v2.1.302 (Oct 16) added a notice that standalone Claude Design closes by Dec 14, 2026 (Claude Code changelog).

Find pinned model names in your repo

Run this from your repo root. It lists every line that mentions one of the models above, including agent configs, CI files and scripts:

git grep -n -i -E 'gemini[ -]?3[.-]7[ -]?flash|gpt-5[.-][45]|gpt-5[ -]?mini|gpt-5[.-]6[ -]?terra|grok[ -]?4[.-]5|opus[ -]?4[.-]8|opus[ -]?5'

The last pattern also matches Claude Opus 5.5, which is a replacement, not a retirement, so skip those lines.

Then add a line to your rules file so agents stop reintroducing old names, for example: Never hardcode a model name. Read it from MODEL in .env. See one rules file for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.

Catch the next one early

Deprecations land every few weeks. Agent Patch Weekly puts them in a NERFS section every issue, with the date and the replacement, so you can fix configs before they break. Our free Checkpoint Loop runs your checks after every agent step, so a dead model name shows up as a red check instead of a silent failure.

Get the patch notes free