VS Code silently added Co-authored-by: Copilot copilot@github.com to commits by default in 1.117, hit a bug attributing non-Copilot code, and is reverting to opt-in in 1.119.
Key Takeaways
git.addAICoAuthor setting shipped with default off, was flipped to all in 1.117 (rolled out 4/22), then walked back to chatAndAgent in 1.118 after a bug caused attribution even when disableAIFeatures was enabled.
1.119 (rollout 5/6) restores default to off and hard-disables attribution when disableAIFeatures is true, regardless of git.addAICoAuthor value.
Future design will require explicit user consent before any commit trailer is added, no matter the setting default.
Microsoft is considering replacing Co-authored-by with assisted-by attribution and adding specific model information (e.g. per issue #297353).
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters are split: some see AI commit attribution as unwanted corporate branding imposed on repos, others argue it serves legitimate provenance and audit needs.
A practical alternative surfaced: using user.name to store model names (e.g. gpt-5.5-high) per commit enables per-line blame filtering without trailer pollution.
Notable Comments
@est: Uses user.name set to model name per commit for blame-level AI attribution without touching commit trailers.
@peyton: Frames the trailer as “today’s Intel Inside sticker” – unsolicited branding, not meaningful authorship.
