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GitHub Copilot Configuration Guide

Overview

GitHub Copilot reads instructions from:

  1. Main Instructions: .github/copilot-instructions.md — always active
  2. Path-Specific Instructions: .github/instructions/*.instructions.md — with applyTo patterns
  3. AGENTS.md: Detected natively from project root

Setup

  1. Create .github/ directory in your project root
  2. Copy copilot-instructions.md into .github/
  3. Copy the instructions/ folder into .github/
  4. Customize the content for your project

.instructions.md File Format

Each instruction file uses YAML frontmatter with applyTo:

---
applyTo: "**/*.tsx"
---

Your instructions in Markdown here...

Key Points

  • applyTo: Glob pattern for automatic activation
  • If no applyTo: Instructions are always active
  • Copilot also detects AGENTS.md in your project root
  • Use /init in Copilot Chat to auto-generate instructions from your project

File Structure

your-project/
├── .github/
│   ├── copilot-instructions.md           # Main instructions (always active)
│   └── instructions/
│       ├── code-style.instructions.md    # All files
│       ├── security.instructions.md      # All files
│       ├── testing.instructions.md       # Test files only
│       ├── react.instructions.md         # .tsx/.jsx only
│       └── python.instructions.md        # .py only
└── AGENTS.md                             # Also read by Copilot

Tips

  • Keep main copilot-instructions.md focused on project overview and core rules
  • Use instructions/ folder for topic-specific and file-type-specific rules
  • Copilot reads AGENTS.md natively — you can use that as your single source of truth
  • The /init command can bootstrap instructions from your existing codebase

Examples

See examples/ for a complete FocusFlow project configuration.

Cross-IDE Compatibility

To use the same rules across IDEs, create an AGENTS.md and run:

../../scripts/symlink-setup.sh

This creates .github/copilot-instructions.md as a symlink to AGENTS.md.