I'm the maintainer of a large open source project - how can I get CoPilot for free?

[iJungleboy]

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I'm the maintainer of a large open source project - how can I get CoPilot for free?

It's actually a lot of projects, the most prominent being 2sxc - https://github.com/2sic/2sxc/ - a .net CMS system for DNN / Oqtane used by tens of thousands of websites.

What must I do to get "verified"?

[auchynnikau]

You can visit the GitHub Copilot website and fill out the application program form. The application will ask you to provide information about your open source project, including its size, scope, and impact. Additionally, you'll be asked to provide information about the organization or individual who is maintaining the project, and to explain why the project would benefit from access to GitHub's advanced tools. You can also, when submitting an application you can include any information that you think is relevant to your application, like the number of contributors and how many users your project has, it can help the review process.

Note that, The program is available to select open source projects, and it is not guaranteed that every application will be accepted. Also, the program is subject to change, and GitHub reserves the right to modify the terms of the program or discontinue it at any time.
And finally you can contact GitHub support if you have any question regarding the application process.

[iJungleboy]

@auchynnikau thanks for this, I understand that we're at the mercy of Github ;)

But I simply cannot find such an application form. Do you have a link?

[spenserblack]

GitHub Copilot is free to use for ... maintainers of popular open source projects.

source: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/quickstart

I'm curious exactly what the threshold is to be considered "popular," and if that's documented anywhere.

[anggrayudi]

Agree. I don't know how many stars we should collect before applying to the Copilot's open source license.

[mikemaccana]

GitHub says: "If you meet the criteria as an open source maintainer, you will be automatically notified when you visit the GitHub Copilot subscription page."

Which seems false, I have one project with 4K stars and have contributions to node.js, I don't see any notifications at https://github.com/settings/billing/summary, all I can do is upgrade.

[spenserblack]

That's a lot of stars! I guess you're referring to python-docx?

I actually do have Copilot for free, I believe because I'm a maintainer (not an owner, just a collaborator) of a pretty popular repository. So I'm pretty sure that it does work at least some times.

Maybe because the original python-docx that you own is archived? Are you a maintainer of the new python-docx? AFAIK GitHub's definition of a "maintainer" is an owner or collaborator. Maybe an organization team member, too, but I'm not sure. But I don't think "contributor" is enough to be considered a maintainer.

Please note that I'm just guessing here based on observations. I don't have any actual knowledge of the rules.

[mattt-arnolddd]

That's awesome you're maintaining such a widely used project (https://github.com/2sic/2sxc).

GitHub offers Copilot for free to verified maintainers of popular open source projects, and your work definitely sounds like a strong candidate.

The verification process isn't publicly documented, but reaching out to GitHub support might be the best way to inquire (https://docs.github.com/support/contacting-github-support). They can give you specific details!