🚀 Copilot and AL Development: Transforming the Future of Business Central Engineering

The world of Business Central development is evolving rapidly—and one of the most powerful accelerators in recent years is Copilot. With AI deeply integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem, developers building extensions with AL now have an intelligent partner that speeds up development, enhances accuracy, and improves productivity.

What Is Copilot in Business Central?

Copilot is Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant designed to help developers, consultants, and end-users across Dynamics 365. For Business Central development, Copilot works in multiple ways:

• Suggesting AL code in VS Code
• Generating complete extension structures (tables, pages, APIs, codeunits)
• Helping analyze and explain existing AL code
• Creating documentation and comments automatically
• Supporting AI-enabled scenarios inside BC

It acts like a smart co-developer—always ready, always fast.

Copilot Inside AL Development (VS Code Integration)

To leverage Copilot for AL development, developers use the GitHub Copilot extension in Visual Studio Code. This integration enables:

Instant AL Code Generation

Developers can write a comment or a simple description, and Copilot generates the AL code structure automatically.

Example:

// Create a sales quote scheduler job that sends reminders 

Copilot produces the full codeunit, job logic, and scheduling pattern.

Faster Page & Table Extensions

Copilot instantly creates field additions, actions, triggers, and layouts without manual typing.

API & Permission Set Generation

Perfect for rapid prototyping.

Using AI Inside AL Extensions

You can integrate AI into your custom extensions using Copilot-enabled system codeunits or external AI services.

Example: A simple AI-driven item description generator:

codeunit 50100 "Item AI Description"
{
    procedure Generate(ItemRec: Record Item): Text
    var
        Copilot: Codeunit "Copilot System";
    begin
        exit(
            Copilot.GenerateText(
                'Create a professional marketing description for item: ' + ItemRec.Description
            )
        );
    end;
} 

This allows users to generate product descriptions instantly saving hours of manual work.

How Copilot Improves AL Developer Productivity

1. Rapid Coding

Copilot reduces 60–70% of repetitive development effort.

2. Fewer Syntax Errors

Copilot understands AL structures and suggests correct patterns.

3. Code Understanding

It can analyze and explain legacy AL code—very useful during upgrades from NAV to BC.

4. Documentation

Automatically generates comments and XML documentation.

5. Code Quality

Copilot suggests modern patterns like interfaces, single-responsibility design, and event-driven architecture.

Limitations—What Developers Should Know

Despite its strengths, Copilot is not perfect:

• It may generate outdated syntax or patterns.
• It cannot validate AL compiler rules.
• It sometimes repeats code blocks unnecessarily.
• Developers must always review and refactor generated output.

Copilot is a booster, not a replacement for AL expertise.

Copilot is not just a trend—it’s a game changer for Business Central developers. It speeds up AL development, supports learning, and enhances overall code quality. By embracing Copilot, organizations can deliver extensions faster, reduce development cost, and empower developers to focus on business logic rather than repetitive tasks.

The future of Business Central development is AI-assisted, and Copilot is leading the way.

Stay Tuned for more…

Original Post https://ammolhsaallvi.blog/2025/12/09/🚀-copilot-and-al-development-transforming-the-future-of-business-central-engineering/