How do I use Claude as a coding assistant compared to GitHub Copilot?

GitHub Copilot and Claude serve different but complementary roles. Copilot excels at inline autocomplete — it watches what you are typing and suggests the next line or block of code in real time inside your editor. Claude is better for larger, higher-level tasks: explaining a whole module, refactoring a function, writing tests for existing code, or debugging a complex issue where you need to paste context and have a conversation about it.

Most experienced developers use both. Copilot stays in the background for fast autocomplete while you type. Claude (either in the browser or via Claude Code in the terminal) handles the heavier tasks that benefit from a longer conversation with context. They do not compete — they cover different parts of the development workflow.

If you want Claude directly inside VS Code rather than switching windows, there are VS Code extensions that integrate Claude into the editor sidebar. Anthropic also has Claude Code which works in the integrated terminal. For teams, Claude for Work via the API can be embedded into internal developer tools and CI pipelines to automate code review, documentation generation, or test writing at scale.