Enhance your GitHub Copilot experience with community-contributed instructions, prompts, and configurations. Get consistent AI assistance that follows your team's coding standards and project requirements.
GitHub Copilot provides three main ways to customize AI responses and tailor assistance to your specific workflows, team guidelines, and project requirements:
🔧 Custom Instructions | 📝 Reusable Prompts | 🧩 Custom Chat Modes |
---|---|---|
Define common guidelines for tasks like code generation, reviews, and commit messages. Describe how tasks should be performed Benefits: • Automatic inclusion in every chat request • Repository-wide consistency • Multiple implementation options |
Create reusable, standalone prompts for specific tasks. Describe what should be done with optional task-specific guidelines Benefits: • Eliminate repetitive prompt writing • Shareable across teams • Support for variables and dependencies |
Define chat behavior, available tools, and codebase interaction patterns within specific boundaries for each request Benefits: • Context-aware assistance • Tool configuration • Role-specific workflows |
💡 Pro Tip: Custom instructions only affect Copilot Chat (not inline code completions). You can combine all three customization types - use custom instructions for general guidelines, prompt files for specific tasks, and chat modes to control the interaction context.
We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details on how to submit new instructions and prompts.
Team and project-specific instructions to enhance GitHub Copilot's behavior for specific technologies and coding practices:
Title | Description | Install |
---|---|---|
Angular Development Instructions | Angular-specific coding standards and best practices | |
ASP.NET REST API Development | Guidelines for building REST APIs with ASP.NET | |
Azure Functions Typescript | TypeScript patterns for Azure Functions | |
Bicep Code Best Practices | Infrastructure as Code with Bicep | |
Blazor | Blazor component and application patterns | |
Cmake Vcpkg | C++ project configuration and package management | |
Copilot Process tracking Instructions | See process Copilot is following where you can edit this to reshape the interaction or save when follow up may be needed | |
C# Development | Guidelines for building C# applications | |
.NET MAUI | .NET MAUI component and application patterns | |
Genaiscript | AI-powered script generation guidelines | |
Generate Modern Terraform Code For Azure | Guidelines for generating modern Terraform code for Azure | |
Go Development Instructions | Instructions for writing Go code following idiomatic Go practices and community standards | |
Guidance for Localization | Guidelines for localizing markdown documents | |
Markdown | Documentation and content creation standards | |
Next.js + Tailwind Development Instructions | Next.js + Tailwind development standards and instructions | |
Performance Optimization Best Practices | The most comprehensive, practical, and engineer-authored performance optimization instructions for all languages, frameworks, and stacks. Covers frontend, backend, and database best practices with actionable guidance, scenario-based checklists, troubleshooting, and pro tips. | |
Python Coding Conventions | Python coding conventions and guidelines | |
Secure Coding and OWASP Guidelines | Comprehensive secure coding instructions for all languages and frameworks, based on OWASP Top 10 and industry best practices. |
💡 Usage: Copy these instructions to your
.github/copilot-instructions.md
file or create task-specific.github/.instructions.md
files in your workspace's.github/instructions
folder.
Ready-to-use prompt templates for specific development scenarios and tasks, defining prompt text with a specific mode, model, and available set of tools.
Title | Description | Install |
---|---|---|
ASP.NET Minimal API with OpenAPI | Create ASP.NET Minimal API endpoints with proper OpenAPI documentation | |
Azure Cost Optimize | Analyze Azure resources used in the app (IaC files and/or resources in a target rg) and optimize costs - creating GitHub issues for identified optimizations. | |
Comment Code Generate A Tutorial | Transform this Python script into a polished, beginner-friendly project by refactoring the code, adding clear instructional comments, and generating a complete markdown tutorial. | |
C# Async Programming Best Practices | Get best practices for C# async programming | |
C# Documentation Best Practices | Ensure that C# types are documented with XML comments and follow best practices for documentation. | |
MSTest Best Practices | Get best practices for MSTest unit testing, including data-driven tests | |
NUnit Best Practices | Get best practices for NUnit unit testing, including data-driven tests | |
XUnit Best Practices | Get best practices for XUnit unit testing, including data-driven tests | |
Entity Framework Core Best Practices | Get best practices for Entity Framework Core | |
Product Manager Assistant: Feature Identification and Specification | This workflow guides you through a systematic approach to identify missing features, prioritize them, and create detailed specifications for implementation. | |
Javascript Typescript Jest | Best practices for writing JavaScript/TypeScript tests using Jest, including mocking strategies, test structure, and common patterns. | |
Multi Stage Dockerfile | Create optimized multi-stage Dockerfiles for any language or framework | |
My Issues | List my issues in the current repository | |
My Pull Requests | List my pull requests in the current repository | |
Next Intl Add Language | Add new language to a Next.js + next-intl application |
💡 Usage: Use
/prompt-name
in VS Code chat, runChat: Run Prompt
command, or hit the run button while you have a prompt open.
Custom chat modes define specific behaviors and tools for GitHub Copilot Chat, enabling enhanced context-aware assistance for particular tasks or workflows.
Title | Description | Install |
---|---|---|
4.1 Beast Mode | A custom prompt to get GPT 4.1 to behave like a top-notch coding agent. | |
Debug Mode Instructions | Debug your application to find and fix a bug | |
Planning mode instructions | Generate an implementation plan for new features or refactoring existing code. | |
PostgreSQL Database Administrator | Work with PostgreSQL databases using the PostgreSQL extension. | |
Create PRD Chat Mode | Generate a comprehensive Product Requirements Document (PRD) in Markdown, detailing user stories, acceptance criteria, technical considerations, and metrics. Optionally create GitHub issues upon user confirmation. | |
Refine Requirement or Issue Chat Mode | Refine the requirement or issue with Acceptance Criteria, Technical Considerations, Edge Cases, and NFRs |
💡 Usage: Create new chat modes using the command
Chat: Configure Chat Modes...
, then switch your chat mode in the Chat input from Agent or Ask to your own mode.
- VS Code Copilot Customization Documentation - Official Microsoft documentation
- GitHub Copilot Chat Documentation - Complete chat feature guide
- Custom Chat Modes - Advanced chat configuration
- VS Code Settings - General VS Code configuration guide
This repository uses various configuration files to ensure consistent code style and avoid issues with line endings:
.editorconfig
- Defines coding styles across different editors and IDEs.gitattributes
- Ensures consistent line endings in text files.vscode/settings.json
- VS Code-specific settings for this repository.vscode/extensions.json
- Recommended VS Code extensions
💡 Note: All markdown files in this repository use LF line endings (Unix-style) to avoid mixed line endings issues. The repository is configured to automatically handle line endings conversion.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.