Claude Opus 4.6 and Sonnet no longer available in Copilot Pro?

[breinergg]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently using Copilot Pro and a few days ago I was able to access and use the Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet models without any issues. However, recently I noticed that these models are no longer appearing in the model selector. There is no error message — they simply disappeared from the available options.

I’d like to know if:
These models were removed temporarily?
There has been a change in model availability for Copilot Pro users?
This could be related to region, account settings, or feature rollout?
Anyone else is experiencing the same issue?

Thanks in advance!

[Youcef3939]

yeah, this is actually expected, it’s not a bug on your side

github recently rolled out a change (march 12, 2026) to how copilot is packaged for students. if you’re on the copilot student plan, they removed direct access to some premium models like claude Opus, claude sonnet, and even some newer GPT variants from the model selector

that’s why they “disappeared” without any error, they weren’t temporarily removed, they’re just no longer available for manual selection under that plan

a couple key points:
• it’s not region-related or a glitch
• it’s tied to your plan (student vs pro)
• those models may still be used behind the scenes via “auto mode,” but you can’t pick them manually anymore

if you want them back in the selector, the only current workaround is upgrading to copilot pro / pro+

so yeah, you’re definitely not alone, everyone on the student plan is seeing this :((

you can join this thread to read more on the issue: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189268#discussion-9625183

[Nafis28]

How do you do that?

You can change from the chat panel (example above)

@Shubh-Agarwal54 yes right but it works for VS code not Visual Studio

Opus 4.6 has Error. Others work.

[24aiml068-maker]

How do you do that?

You can change from the chat panel (example above)

@Shubh-Agarwal54 yes right but it works for VS code not Visual Studio

Opus 4.6 has Error. Others work.

same opus 4.6 and sonnet 4.6 not working

[md-marop-hossain]

Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 models have errors showing: ‘Error: Error during execution‘

[ashwanijaji]

Opus 4.5 also started throwing error

[fershibli]

Sonnet and Opus 4.5 and 4.6, not working, throwing error

Sorry, your request failed. Please try again.
(....)
Reason: Request Failed: 400 {"error":{"message":"too many URL images in request (max 20)","code":""}}

This is absurd! I pay for this - I am not enrolled on GH student plan, I pay for GitHub Pro!

[Jdlopezva]

It's a shame that GitHub is removing access to Claude's models for students. Is paying for Copilot Pro now the only way to get these models?

[fershibli]

I pay for Copilot Pro and Claude's models are not working (except Haiku). They need to fix this ASAP

[JoeyGellerbit]

I pay for Copilot Pro and Claude's models are not working (except Haiku). They need to fix this ASAP

hey bro. Did you solve the problem？ I have meet the same probelm :(

[rajanikant04]

I was also facing the same issue.
Then I have tried to reload the window of vs code 2 to 3 times and then showing properly.

[naqvi110k]

Hi! Claude models on Copilot can disappear due to a few common reasons:

Copilot Pro+ is required for Claude Opus 4.6 — Pro alone may not include it
Regional availability — not all regions have access yet
GitHub sometimes adjusts model access during rollout phases

Quick fixes to try:

Check your plan at github.com/settings/copilot
Sign out and back into Copilot
Try the model selector on github.com instead of your IDE

If still missing, contact support at support.github.com 👍

[Omkar18U]

They've removed entire claude models for GH student pack officially now.

[GodParticle72774]

They removed it from Perplexity Pro for students as well. But I pay for Anthropic Pro, so just using claude.ai.

[anshul-031]

Can we add credit card or debit card?, such that opus model can be accessed via paid version & other models via our regular copilot student pack?

[GodParticle72774]

oh yeah, we can still upgrade to mac and all that and you can just get pro on claude.ai, but max, max5x and 20x are best.

…

On Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 1:30 AM Anshul Goel ***@***.***> wrote: Can we add credit card or debit card?, such that opus model can be accessed via paid version & other models via our regular copilot student pack? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#189999?email_source=notifications&email_token=BK3GHIX2C2O7BDUJZI72B6L4TIIBZA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNRTG43DMNRZUZZGKYLTN5XKOY3PNVWWK3TUUVSXMZLOOSWGM33PORSXEX3DNRUWG2Y#discussioncomment-16376669>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BK3GHIR7NQ7FP5MBNGF7MR34TIIBZAVCNFSM6AAAAACWWRKZBCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTMMZXGY3DMOI> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[GodParticle72774]

No, they have taken support for opus out of everything except paid subs.

…

On Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 3:47 AM JoeyGellerbit ***@***.***> wrote: I pay for Copilot Pro and Claude's models are not working (except Haiku). They need to fix this ASAP hey bro. Did you solve the problem？ I have meet the same probelm :( — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#189999?email_source=notifications&email_token=BK3GHISKW6WGJ24XXJGJW3T4TIYBRA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNRTG44DEMRRUZZGKYLTN5XKOY3PNVWWK3TUUVSXMZLOOSWGM33PORSXEX3DNRUWG2Y#discussioncomment-16378221>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BK3GHIXGI7V5CSWAAICIX4D4TIYBRAVCNFSM6AAAAACWWRKZBCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTMMZXHAZDEMI> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[MohitSutharOfficial]

---

Hi 👋

This is actually expected behavior and not an issue on your side.
GitHub has recently changed how models are exposed in Copilot (including Copilot CLI). Because of this:

• Latest Claude models (like Opus 4.6 or newer Sonnet versions) may not appear anymore
• Model availability depends on your plan, region, and rollout updates
• Copilot only provides a limited/curated set of models, not full access to all Claude versions

---

✅ Using Claude models in Copilot CLI

You can still use available (older/stable) Claude models via Copilot CLI.
First, check which models are available:

copilot models

Then select one of the available Claude models:

copilot chat --model claude-sonnet-4.5

Or inside interactive mode:

/model claude-sonnet-4.5

---

⚠️ Important

• If a model is not listed, you cannot access it via Copilot CLI
• Missing models are usually due to:
  • Feature rollout changes
  • Plan limitations
  • Temporary removal by GitHub

---

💡 Suggestion

If you specifically need the latest Claude models, you’ll need to use them via:

• Anthropic API directly
• Other platforms that provide full Claude access
  Copilot CLI is mainly designed for integrated development workflows, not full model access.

---

Hope this helps 👍

[GitMavick]

correct....

[ninjacode911]

To clarify what's going on here, since this thread has a mix of different issues being conflated:

There are two separate problems being discussed:

1. Student plan users — models removed from selector

GitHub officially removed manual selection of premium Claude models (Opus, Sonnet) from the Copilot Student plan as of mid-March 2026. This is intentional, not a bug. These models
may still be used internally via "auto mode," but you can no longer pick them manually. The only way to get them back in the selector is upgrading to a paid Copilot Pro or Pro+
plan. More details in https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189268#discussion-9625183.

2. Paid Pro/Pro+ users — models throwing errors

Several paying users in this thread are reporting that Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 throw errors like Error during execution or 400: too many URL images in request. This is a
different issue entirely and is not about plan restrictions — it's a service-side bug.

If you're on a paid plan and seeing errors:

• Try reloading your VS Code window (this has worked for some people)
• Test the model on https://github.com chat instead of your IDE to isolate the issue
• Check your Copilot plan status at https://github.com/settings/copilot to confirm you're actually on Pro/Pro+
• If the 400: too many URL images error persists, it's a known bug with how Copilot serializes context for Claude models — open a support ticket at https://support.github.com

@fershibli @JoeyGellerbit — since you're paying customers getting errors, this is worth a direct support ticket. The student plan changes shouldn't affect you at all.

[ibragimov-oasis]

As a verified student, I was extremely disappointed by the March 12, 2026 changes to the GitHub Copilot Student plan.

GitHub says this is necessary “to keep Copilot free and accessible for millions of students”. But let’s be honest:

1. The number of verified students has been stable for years (~2 million, as GitHub itself wrote). It’s not exploding. Students come and go every year at the same rate — this is not a sudden “we can’t afford it anymore” situation.

2. Rich students from developed countries (USA, Europe, etc.) who could afford Claude Pro ($20/month) or even team plans were already using paid Claude anyway. They didn’t rely on free Copilot.
   The ones who really needed Copilot were students from developing countries and lower-income families who couldn’t buy Claude or GPT subscriptions. Now they lost the only good free tool they had.

3. Where is the data? GitHub gave ZERO statistics. No numbers on:

   • How much student usage actually increased in 2025–2026
   • How many premium requests students were really consuming
   • Real cost difference between Auto mode and manual Opus/Sonnet

   Just corporate words “sustainable” and “long-term”. Show us the numbers.

4. Auto mode is much worse in practice. My own experience today (April 1, 2026): one single message in Auto → rate limit hit (request ID: 3BC5:1FA0BC:34D9383:3BBBEEC:69CCABAE). It consumed 2.4% of my quota. Claude Opus 4.6 used to take 0.3% for the same task. So Auto is not “saving money” — it’s wasting more quota on dumber results.

This change didn’t make Copilot “free for everyone”. It made it "useless for serious student work". We’re not abusing the system — we’re learning and building real projects. Removing the best models while keeping the same PRU limits is not “sustainability”, it’s just cutting corners on the future developers you claim to support.

GitHub’s "most valuable asset is not the models or the infrastructure" — it is the "students*" We are the ones who create the next big things.

Just a few weeks ago a 20-year-old Chinese undergraduate student Guo Hangjiang built "MiroFish" (github.com/666ghj/MiroFish) — a groundbreaking open-source multi-agent AI simulation engine that topped global GitHub Trending, got 33k+ stars in days and attracted millions in funding. One student. One laptop. With AI coding assistants.

Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook while he was a student at Harvard. Linus Torvalds started Linux as a student. Countless world-changing open-source ecosystems, tools and companies were born in student dorm rooms and GitHub repos.

Students are not just “users who come and go”. We are the future of the entire developer ecosystem that GitHub claims to support.

But right now you are "depriving your most valuable asset" of the best tools.

You are not “preserving the community”. You are "losing it". By taking away the best models you are telling students: “your serious projects are no longer welcome here for free”. Many will simply leave for Claude.ai, Cursor, or other tools.

Please reconsider. The future of GitHub depends on the students you are now limiting.

Please either:

• Bring back manual selection of Claude Opus 4.6 / Sonnet for students, or
• Let us choose premium models but with higher PRU cost (5–10x), or
• or make discount for using pro features for students.

Thank you for reading. Hope the team reconsiders.