Use Copilot Agent Mode on notebook edits carefully

A user tried Copilot Agent Mode on a large Jupyter notebook and had to revert repeatedly after it damaged the file mid-edit.

Done with GitHub Copilotยท Intermediateยท Jun 2025

What they did
They opened a roughly 3,000-line .ipynb in PyCharm and asked GitHub Copilot Agent Mode to make moderate edits and add a few simple features. The agent would begin rewriting sections, then stop in the middle of a line and leave the notebook in a corrupted state. They tried several models on the same file, but the same problem kept happening.
How it went
Each attempt broke more than half of the notebook, so they rolled back the changes every time. After several failures, they abandoned Agent Mode for that task and used Gemini in chat mode instead, which they said worked better for coding help.
Tips
For large notebooks, make the agent work in small chunks and check the file after each change. Keep backups or version control close by, because a partial edit can damage the notebook and force a revert.

Try it yourself with GitHub Copilot

I have a large Jupyter notebook, [file name], and I want you to make these changes: [change 1], [change 2], and add [basic feature]. Edit one cell or section at a time, confirm the notebook still opens and remains valid after each step, and stop to ask for my approval before any broad restructuring, deletion, or other irreversible change. When you finish, summarize exactly what you changed in each section.

Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.

Read the original on reddit.com โ†—

1 more report of this

Get 3 agent uses like this every morning

With the day's top AI news. Free, and one click to unsubscribe.