Using GitHub Copilot CLI

The command-line interface (CLI) for GitHub Copilot allows you to use Copilot directly from your terminal. For more information, see About GitHub Copilot CLI.

Note

GitHub Copilot CLI is in public preview with data protection and subject to change.

Prerequisite

Install Copilot CLI. See Installing GitHub Copilot CLI.

Using Copilot CLI

In your terminal, navigate to a folder that contains code you want to work with.
Enter copilot to start Copilot CLI.

Copilot will ask you to confirm that you trust the files in this folder.

Important

During this GitHub Copilot CLI session, Copilot may attempt to read, modify, and execute files in and below this folder. You should only proceed if you trust the files in this location. For more information about trusted directories, see About GitHub Copilot CLI.
Choose one of the options:

1. Yes, proceed:

Copilot can work with the files in this location for this session only.

2. Yes, and remember this folder for future sessions:

You trust the files in this folder for this and future sessions. You won't be asked again when you start Copilot CLI from this folder. Only choose this option if you are sure that it will always be safe for Copilot to work with files in this location.

3. No, exit (Esc):

End your Copilot CLI session.
If you are not currently logged in to GitHub, you'll be prompted to use the /login slash command. Enter this command and follow the on-screen instructions to authenticate.
Enter a prompt in the CLI.

This can be a simple chat question, or a request for Copilot to perform a specific task, such as fixing a bug, adding a feature to an existing application, or creating a new application.

For some examples of prompts, see About GitHub Copilot CLI.
When Copilot wants to use a tool that could modify or execute files—for example, touch, chmod, node, or sed—it will ask you to approve the use of the tool.

Choose one of the options:

1. Yes:

Allow Copilot to use this tool. The next time Copilot wants to use this tool, it will ask you to approve it again.

2. Yes, and approve TOOL for the rest of the running session:

Allow Copilot to use this tool—with any options—without asking again, for the rest of the currently running session. Any pending parallel permission requests of the same type will be auto-approved. You will have to approve the command again in future sessions.

Choosing this option is useful for many tools—such as chmod—as it avoids you having to approve similar commands repeatedly in the same session. However, be aware of the security implications of this option. For example, choosing this option for the command rm would allow Copilot to delete any file in the current directory or its subdirectories without asking for your approval.

3. No, and tell Copilot what to do differently (Esc):

Copilot will not run the command. Instead, it ends the current operation and awaits your next prompt. You can tell Copilot to continue the task but using a different approach.

For example, if you ask Copilot to create a bash script but you do not want to use the script Copilot suggests, you can stop the current operation and enter a new prompt, such as: Continue the previous task but include usage instructions in the script.

When you reject a tool permission request, you can also give Copilot inline feedback about the rejection so it can adapt its approach without stopping entirely.

Tips

Optimize your experience with Copilot CLI with the following tips.

Stop a currently running operation

If you enter a prompt and then decide you want to stop Copilot from completing the task while it is still "Thinking," press Esc.

Use plan mode

Plan mode lets you collaborate with Copilot on an implementation plan before any code is written. Press Shift+Tab to cycle in and out of plan mode.

Steer the conversation while Copilot is thinking

You can interact with Copilot while it's thinking. Send follow-up messages to steer the conversation in a different direction, or queue additional instructions for Copilot to process after it finishes its current response.

Include a specific file in your prompt

To add a specific file to your prompt, use @ followed by the relative path to the file. For example: Explain @config/ci/ci-required-checks.yml or Fix the bug in @src/app.js. This adds the contents of the file to your prompt as context for Copilot.

When you start typing a file path, the matching paths are displayed below the prompt box. Use the arrow keys to select a path and press Tab to complete the path in your prompt.

Work with files in a different location

To complete a task, Copilot may need to work with files that are outside the current working directory. If a prompt you have entered in an interactive session requires Copilot to modify a file outside the current location, it will ask you to approve access to the file's directory.

You can also add a trusted directory manually at any time by using the slash command:

/add-dir /path/to/directory

If all of the files you want to work with are in a different location, you can switch the current working directory without starting a new Copilot CLI session by using either the /cwd or /cd slash commands:

/cwd /path/to/directory

Run shell commands

You can prepend your input with ! to directly run shell commands, without making a call to the model.

!git clone https://github.com/github/copilot-cli

Delegate tasks to Copilot coding agent

The delegate command lets you push your current session to Copilot coding agent on GitHub. This lets you hand off work while preserving all the context Copilot needs to complete your task.

You can delegate a task using the slash command, followed by a prompt:

/delegate complete the API integration tests and fix any failing edge cases

Alternatively, prefix a prompt with & to delegate it:

& complete the API integration tests and fix any failing edge cases

Copilot will ask to commit any of your unstaged changes as a checkpoint in a new branch it creates. Copilot coding agent will open a draft pull request, make changes in the background, and request a review from you.

Copilot will provide a link to the pull request and agent session on GitHub once the session begins.

Resume an interactive session

You can use the --resume command line option or the /resume slash command to cycle through and resume local and remote interactive sessions, allowing you to pick up right where you left off with your existing context. You can kick off a Copilot coding agent session on GitHub, and then use GitHub Copilot CLI to bring that session to your local environment.

You can quickly resume the most recently closed local session by using the --continue command line option.

Use custom instructions

You can enhance Copilot’s performance, by adding custom instructions to the repository you are working in. Custom instructions are natural language descriptions saved in Markdown files in the repository. They are automatically included in prompts you enter while working in that repository. This helps Copilot to better understand the context of your project and how to respond to your prompts.

Copilot CLI supports:

Repository-wide instructions in the .github/copilot-instructions.md file.
Path-specific instructions files: .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md.
Agent files such as AGENTS.md.

For more information, see Adding custom instructions for GitHub Copilot CLI.

Use custom agents

A custom agent is a specialized versions of Copilot. Custom agents help Copilot handle unique workflows, particular coding conventions, and specialist use cases.

Copilot CLI includes a default group of custom agents for common tasks:

Agent	Description
Explore	Performs quick codebase analysis, allowing you to ask questions about your code without adding to your main context.
Task	Executes commands such as tests and builds, providing brief summaries on success and full output on failure.
General-purpose	Handles complex, multi-step tasks that require the full toolset and high-quality reasoning, running in a separate context to keep your main conversation clearly focused.
Code-review	Reviews changes with a focus on surfacing only genuine issues, minimizing noise.

The AI model being used by the CLI can choose to delegate a task to a subsidiary subagent process, that operates using a custom agent with specific expertise, if it judges that this would result in the work being completed more effectively. The model may equally choose to handle the work directly in the main agent.

You can define your own custom agents using Markdown files, called agent profiles, that specify what expertise the agent should have, what tools it can use, and any specific instructions for how it should respond.

You can define custom agents at the user, repository, or organization/enterprise level:

Type	Location	Scope
User-level custom agent	local `~/.copilot/agents` directory	All projects
Repository-level custom agent	`.github/agents` directory in your local and remote repositories	Current project
Organization and Enterprise-level custom agent	`/agents` directory in the `.github-private` repository in an organization or enterprise	All projects under your organization and enterprise account

In the case of naming conflicts, a system-level agent overrides a repository-level agent, and the repository-level agent would override an organization-level agent.

Custom agents can be used in three ways:

Using the slash command in the CLI's interactive interface to select from the list of available custom agents:
```
/agent
```
Calling out to custom agent directly in a prompt:
```
Use the refactoring agent to refactor this code block
```
Copilot will automatically infer the agent you want to use.
Specifying the custom agent you want to use with the command-line option. For example:
```
copilot --agent=refactor-agent --prompt "Refactor this code block"
```

For more information, see Creating custom agents for Copilot coding agent.

Use skills

You can create skills to enhance the ability of Copilot to perform specialized tasks with instructions, scripts, and resources.

For more information, see Creating agent skills for GitHub Copilot CLI.

Add an MCP server

Copilot CLI comes with the GitHub MCP server already configured. This MCP server allows you to interact with resources on GitHub.com—for example, allowing you to merge pull requests from the CLI.

To extend the functionality available to you in Copilot CLI, you can add more MCP servers:

Use the following slash command:
```
/mcp add
```
Fill in the details for the MCP server you want to add, using the Tab key to move between fields.
Press Ctrl+S to save the details.

Details of your configured MCP servers are stored in the mcp-config.json file, which is located, by default, in the ~/.copilot directory. This location can be changed by setting the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable. For information about the JSON structure of a server definition, see Extending GitHub Copilot coding agent with the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Context management

Copilot CLI provides several slash commands to help you monitor and manage your context window:

/usage: Lets you view your session statistics, including:
- The amount of premium requests used in the current session
- The session duration
- The total lines of code edited
- A breakdown of token usage per model
/context: Provides a visual overview of your current token usage
/compact: Manually compresses your conversation history to free up context space

GitHub Copilot CLI automatically compresses your history in the background when your conversation approaches 95% of the token limit, without interrupting your workflow.

Review code changes

You can use the /review slash command to have Copilot analyze code changes without leaving the CLI. This lets you get quick feedback on your changes prior to committing.

Enable all permissions

For situations where you trust Copilot to run freely, you can use the --allow-all or --yolo flags to enable all permissions at once.

Toggle reasoning visibility

Press Ctrl+T to show or hide the model's reasoning process while it generates a response. This setting persists across sessions, allowing you to observe how Copilot works through complex problems.

Find out more

For a complete list of the command line options and slash commands that you can use with Copilot CLI, do one of the following:

Enter ? in the prompt box in an interactive session.
Enter copilot help in your terminal.

For additional information use one of the following commands in your terminal:

Configuration settings:

copilot help config

You can adjust the configuration settings by editing the config.json file, which is located, by default, in the ~/.copilot directory. This location can be changed by setting the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable.
Environment variables that affect Copilot CLI:

copilot help environment
Available logging levels:

copilot help logging
Permissions for allowing or denying tool use:

copilot help permissions

Feedback

If you have any feedback about GitHub Copilot CLI, please let us know by using the /feedback slash command in an interactive session and choosing one of the options. You can complete a private feedback survey, submit a bug report, or suggest a new feature.

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