Setup

Five things to verify before the first agent prompt. Each one is a silent failure mode if skipped.

1. Account & Subscription

GitHub Copilot requires a GitHub account with an active subscription. Agent mode is available on all tiers, but premium request limits vary.

Plan Inline suggestions Chat Agent mode Notes
Copilot Free ✓ (limited) ✓ (limited monthly) ✓ (limited) Monthly caps on completions and chat turns
Copilot Pro ✓ unlimited ✓ unlimited ✓ Uses premium requests for agent turns
Copilot Pro+ ✓ unlimited ✓ unlimited ✓ more models Higher premium request allocation
Business / Enterprise ✓ ✓ ✓ Organisation-managed, audit logs, policy controls

Agent mode runs use premium requests — each tool call the agent makes counts against your plan’s premium request allocation. Free-tier users will hit limits faster during multi-step agent sessions.

As of April 2026, new sign-ups for Copilot Pro and Pro+ are temporarily paused. Existing subscribers are unaffected. Check the official setup page for current availability.

2. Install VS Code & Extensions

1
VS Code 1.99 or later

Agent mode requires VS Code 1.99+. Check your version: Help → About. If you're on an older build, update before continuing — agent features are silently unavailable on older versions.

2
Install GitHub Copilot extension

Open Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X) and search for "GitHub Copilot". Install the extension published by GitHub. This provides inline completions.

3
Install GitHub Copilot Chat extension

Search for "GitHub Copilot Chat" and install the companion extension. This is required for the chat panel, agent mode, and all customization features. Both extensions must be present and up to date — agent mode degrades silently if the Chat extension is stale.

4
Sign in with GitHub

Hover over the Copilot icon in the Status Bar and select Use AI Features with Copilot…. Follow the sign-in prompts. Once signed in, the Copilot icon should appear active (not crossed out) in the Status Bar.

Both extensions must be installed and updated. The Copilot extension alone is not sufficient for agent mode — the Chat extension is what enables the chat panel, agent dropdown, and the full customization layer.

3. Enable Agent Mode

Agent mode is not on by default in all VS Code builds. Verify the setting is active.

1
Open Settings

Press Ctrl+, (Windows / Linux) or Cmd+, (Mac) to open the Settings editor.

2
Search for agent mode

Type chat.agent.enabled in the search box. Toggle it to true. If you don't see the setting, your VS Code build is older than 1.99.

3
Open the Chat panel

Press Ctrl+Alt+I (Windows / Linux) or Ctrl+Cmd+I (Mac) to open the Chat view. Look for a mode dropdown near the chat input. It should show options including "Ask", "Edit", and Agent.

4. Initialise Project Instructions

Run /init in the Copilot Chat panel. This analyses your codebase and auto-generates .github/copilot-instructions.md with conventions derived from your actual code — languages, frameworks, naming patterns.

# In the Copilot Chat input:
/init

Review and trim the generated file. It will be verbose — cut anything that doesn’t answer the question “would removing this cause the agent to make a mistake?” Keep it under 100 lines.

The .github/ folder is where all your customization assets live:

your-project/
├── .github/
│   ├── copilot-instructions.md   ← always-on context
│   ├── agents/                   ← custom agents
│   ├── skills/                   ← skill packages
│   ├── prompts/                  ← reusable prompts
│   └── hooks/                    ← lifecycle hooks
└── .vscode/
    └── mcp.json                  ← MCP server connections

5. MCP Scaffolding (Optional)

MCP servers give the agent access to external tools — databases, APIs, services. Configure them in .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "my-database": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres"],
      "env": {
        "POSTGRES_CONNECTION_STRING": "${env:PG_CONN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP tools are only available in Agent mode (not regular chat). Each server’s tool schema consumes context — load only what the current session needs.

Official docs: Add MCP servers in VS Code

Sanity Checklist

Run through this before the first prompt:

Once you see the Agent mode option in the dropdown, you're ready. The rest of this workshop builds on this foundation — every file type you'll create goes into .github/ or .vscode/.

← Overview Concepts →