GitHub Copilot — AI Pair Programming

GitHub Copilot sits in your editor and writes code alongside you. It reads your current file, open tabs, and surrounding context to suggest completions that range from finishing a single line to generating entire functions. Beyond completions, Copilot Chat lets you ask questions, explain code, generate tests, and refactor — all without leaving your editor.

This skill covers setting up Copilot in VS Code and the CLI, working effectively with inline suggestions, leveraging chat and slash commands, and using workspace agents for codebase-wide tasks.

Setting Up Copilot in VS Code

Copilot requires an active GitHub Copilot subscription (Individual, Business, or Enterprise). Once you have access, installation takes seconds.

Open VS Code and install the extension from the marketplace. The Copilot extension includes both inline suggestions and the chat panel.

# Install Copilot extensions from the command line
code --install-extension GitHub.copilot
code --install-extension GitHub.copilot-chat

After installation, VS Code prompts you to sign in with your GitHub account. Once authenticated, Copilot activates automatically. You can verify it's running by checking the Copilot icon in the status bar — it should show as active, not crossed out.