auto_awesome

GitHub Copilot (.github/copilot-instructions.md)

GitHub Copilot Chat reads .github/copilot-instructions.md and prepends it to every chat. Aggressively truncated by Copilot’s context budget — keep it under 200 lines and front-load the most important rules.

File path
.github/copilot-instructions.md
Length cap (recommended)
~200 lines
Frontmatter
No
File globs
No

Format quirks

  • check_circleStrict context budget — content past ~200 lines is often dropped
  • check_circleFront-load critical conventions; defer examples
  • check_circleNo frontmatter, no globs — plain markdown
  • check_circleVS Code, Visual Studio, and copilot.com all honor this file

Browse stack examples

Every stack page in the library has a one-click copy button for GitHub Copilot (.github/copilot-instructions.md). Open any of these and pick "GitHub Copilot (.github/copilot-instructions.md)" from the format dropdown.

See all 20 stacksarrow_forward

Official docs: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/customizing-copilot/adding-custom-instructions-for-github-copilot