GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot CLI is the GitHub-hosted agent harness. Genesis runs as a skill bundle under .github/skills/; personas live in .github/agents/.

File paths

Primitive	Path
Module Entrypoint (skill folder)	`.github/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md`
Persona Scoping File	`.github/agents/*.agent.md`
Scope-Attached Rule File	`.github/instructions/*.instructions.md` (path-globbed)
Trigger Orchestrator	`.github/workflows/*.yml` (with gh-aw for agentic workflows)

How `/genesis` resolves

After npx skills add danielmeppiel/genesis, the loader writes Genesis to .github/skills/genesis/. In a Copilot CLI session, type:

/genesis <what you want designed>

The dispatcher recognizes the slash command and lazy-loads SKILL.md into the session. Lazy assets under assets/ only load when the body explicitly references them.

Persona files

Copilot agents are markdown files at .github/agents/<name>.agent.md with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: pr-tests-lens
description: Reviews a PR diff for missing test coverage on changed code paths.
---

The agent is invoked through Copilot’s task tool / sub-agent mechanism, which spawns a child thread with a fresh context window.

Tool surface

Copilot CLI preloads the terminal (shell command execution) and a structured set of file / search / git tools by default. MCP servers can be wired through Copilot’s MCP configuration to widen the tool surface.

Triggers (gh-aw)

For TRIGGER ORCHESTRATOR workloads, GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) provide the substrate-invoked binding: a workflow file under .github/workflows/ declares the event filter, capability gates (safe-outputs), and the entrypoint to dispatch.

Official documentation

GitHub Copilot docs — canonical authority for the Copilot CLI surface, agent framework, and MCP integration. (Verified 200 OK.)