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:
- 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
- Genaiscript - AI-powered script generation guidelines
- Generate Modern Terraform Code For Azure - Guidelines for generating modern Terraform code for Azure
- Markdown - Documentation and content creation standards
- Next.js + Tailwind Development Instructions - Next.js + Tailwind development standards and instructions
- Python Coding Conventions - Python coding conventions and guidelines
💡 Usage: Copy these instructions to your
.github/copilot-instructions.mdfile or create task-specific.instructions.mdfiles in your workspace.
Ready-to-use prompt templates for specific development scenarios and tasks. These .prompt.md files can be executed directly in VS Code chat as slash commands or through the Chat: Run Prompt command.
- ASP.NET Minimal API with OpenAPI - Generate API endpoints with proper documentation
- Entity Framework Core Best Practices - Database operations and ORM patterns
- Multi-Stage Dockerfile - Optimized container builds for any technology
- C# Async Programming - Asynchronous programming best practices
- MSTest Best Practices - MSTest unit testing with data-driven tests
- NUnit Best Practices - NUnit testing patterns and assertions
- XUnit Best Practices - XUnit testing with modern C# features
- JavaScript/TypeScript Jest - Jest testing patterns, mocking, and structure
- Comment Code Generate Tutorial - Transform code into educational content
- Generate Specs as Issues - Convert requirements into GitHub issues
💡 Usage: Use
/prompt-namein VS Code chat or runChat: Run Promptcommand. Prompt files support variables like${input:name}for dynamic content.
- 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 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.