Disney has announced that it will remove GitHub Copilot from its U.S. engineering stack in August. As part of the tooling changes, Amazon products including Kiro and Q will also be withdrawn; OpenAI’s Codex will be introduced for some tasks. Claude and Cursor will remain available.
What engineers reported
Eight Disney engineers told sources that they rarely or never used Copilot. One described the code produced as "needlessly complex," while another said their access "lapsed for lack of use." At the same time, the company’s power users are executing agent calls in the tens of thousands per day.
A senior engineer reported that he now spends roughly 80% of his coding time driving Claude from the terminal.
How the workflow is shifting
The move reflects a broader shift away from the ‘‘copilot’’ model—tools that sit alongside a developer and offer suggestions—toward agent-based approaches that actively perform tasks. Internally, Disney’s experience suggests developers prefer systems that can act as drivers rather than passengers.
Practically, this is changing the developer environment: rather than relying primarily on a graphical IDE with menus and buttons, teams are moving to bare terminals that run agents. Agents require an execution environment more than a complex user interface.
Why this matters
Disney’s decision is more than a tool swap; it signals that parts of the industry are moving from suggestion-focused assistants to agent-driven automation. The combination of low Copilot engagement among many engineers and very high agent call volumes among power users suggests the latter model is currently delivering greater practical value for those teams.
What’s next
Copilot’s removal will take place in August in the U.S.; the exact rollout schedule and which workflows will be fully taken over by Codex or other agents remain internal details. Observers should watch how this choice influences broader developer-tooling preferences and the evolution of IDEs versus agent-run terminal workflows.
