Because completions sit outside the credit system, the single highest-leverage habit for making an allowance last is simple: reach for tab-completion and inline suggestions first, and save chat, agent mode and code review for things completions genuinely can't do — explaining a block of unfamiliar code, planning a multi-file change, or reviewing a diff.
- Let a completion finish a line or a small block instead of asking chat to write it from scratch.
- Use agent mode for tasks that actually span multiple files or need multiple tool calls — not for something a single completion would have handled.
- Pick a smaller model for routine chat. Credits are spent at each model's API token rate, so the same question costs more on a bigger model.
- Check your remaining balance in GitHub's billing settings before starting a long agent session, not after it stalls out mid-task.
- On an individual plan, set a budget for extra credits so a busy week can't run up an open-ended bill.
- On Business or Enterprise, remember the credits are pooled across the organisation — one heavy user can eat into everyone else's headroom.
Which would you trust?
You need Copilot to explain what an unfamiliar 20-line function does. Which feature is the right first choice?