GitHub Copilot
Often the only tool allowed on a corporate machine, so it is worth setting up properly rather than treating it as autocomplete.
Instruction files
| File | Scope |
|---|---|
.github/copilot-instructions.md | Whole repo |
.github/instructions/<area>.instructions.md | Scoped by an applyTo: glob |
The scoped form is underused and is the good one:
---
applyTo: "apps/api/**"
---
Conventions for the API only.
This kit's project template ships both, with the repo-level file pointing at
AGENTS.md so there is still one canonical contract.
Agents and skills
Copilot now supports custom agents (.github/agents/*.agent.md), prompt files
(.github/prompts/*.prompt.md) and skills (.github/skills/<name>/SKILL.md).
The shapes are close enough to Claude's that a skill usually ports with only
frontmatter changes.
github/awesome-copilot (★37k) is the catalog — community instructions, agents, skills and configs.
Copilot CLI
gh copilot brings a terminal agent, with remote control from github.com and
the mobile app. Closer to Claude Code than the editor extension is.
Realistic comparison
| Claude Code | Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Long autonomous tasks | strong | weaker |
| Editor-native completion | n/a | strong |
| Enterprise availability | often restricted | usually approved |
| Skills / hooks ecosystem | mature | catching up |
If Copilot is what you are allowed to use, put the effort into
.github/instructions/ — scoped instruction files are the highest-leverage
thing available there.