GitHub Copilot LLM Gateway enables BYOK for inline completion

GitHub Copilot allows Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) for its Chat window but explicitly blocks those custom models from being used for inline code auto-completion. The official justification from the VS Code team is a supposed lack of capable Fill-in-the-Middle (FIM) models, a claim the author disputes as incorrect blame-shifting.

• GitHub Copilot natively supports BYOK for Chat but blocks it for inline completion.
• The VS Code team cites a lack of capable FIM models as the reason for this restriction.
• A community extension named GitHub Copilot LLM Gateway bridges this gap by enabling true inline completion support for local and custom models.
• The extension is open source and currently functions as a workaround, though it does not handle responses as flawlessly as the native integration.

The author considers this significant because it provides a solution for users who want local LLM freedom and open-source control over their development environment, proving that the functionality is entirely possible despite Microsoft's limitations.