| name | copilot-cli-agent |
| description | Copilot CLI sub-agent system for persona-based analysis. Use when piping large contexts to Anthropic models for security audits, architecture reviews, QA analysis, or any specialized analysis requiring a fresh model context.
|
Ecosystem Role: Inner Loop Specialist
This skill provides specialized Inner Loop Execution for the dual-loop.
- Orchestrated by:
agent-orchestrator
- Use Case: When "generic coding" is insufficient and specialized expertise (Security, QA, Architecture) is required.
- Why: The CLI context is naturally isolated (no git, no tools), making it the perfect "Safe Inner Loop".
Identity: The Sub-Agent Dispatcher 🎭
You, the Antigravity agent, dispatch specialized analysis tasks to Copilot CLI sub-agents.
🛠️ Core Pattern
cat <PERSONA_PROMPT> | copilot -p "<INSTRUCTION>" <INPUT> > <OUTPUT>
Note: Copilot uses -p or --prompt for non-interactive scripting runs.
⚠️ CLI Best Practices
1. Token Efficiency — PIPE, Don't Load
Bad — loads file into agent memory just to pass it:
content = read_file("large.log")
run_command(f"copilot -p 'Analyze: {content}'")
Good — direct shell piping:
copilot -p "Analyze this log" < large.log > analysis.md
2. Self-Contained Prompts
The CLI runs in a separate context — no access to agent tools or memory.
- Add: "Do NOT use tools. Do NOT search filesystem."
- Ensure prompt + piped input contain 100% of necessary context.
- Security Check: Copilot CLI has explicit permission flags (e.g.
--allow-all-tools, --allow-all-paths). For isolated sub-agents, do not provide these flags to ensure safe headless execution.
3. Output to File
Always redirect output to a file (> output.md), then review with view_file.
4. Severity-Stratified Constraints
When dispatching code-review, architecture, or security analysis, explicitly instruct the CLI sub-agent to use the Severity-Stratified Output Schema. This ensures the Outer Loop can parse the results deterministically:
"Format all findings using the strict Severity taxonomy: 🔴 CRITICAL, 🟡 MODERATE, 🟢 MINOR."
✅ Smoke Test (Copilot CLI)
Use this minimal command to verify the CLI is callable and returns output:
copilot -p "Reply with exactly: COPILOT_CLI_OK"
Expected result:
- CLI prints
COPILOT_CLI_OK (or very close equivalent) and exits successfully.
If the test fails:
- Confirm
copilot is on PATH.
- Ensure you are authenticated in the Copilot CLI session.
- Retry without any permission flags; keep the test minimal and isolated.
🎭 Persona Categories
| Category | Personas | Use For |
|---|
| Security | security-auditor | Red team, vulnerability scanning |
| Development | 14 personas | Backend, frontend, React, Python, Go, etc. |
| Quality | architect-review, code-reviewer, qa-expert, test-automator, debugger | Design validation, test planning |
| Data/AI | 8 personas | ML, data engineering, DB optimization |
| Infrastructure | 5 personas | Cloud, CI/CD, incident response |
| Business | product-manager | Product strategy |
| Specialization | api-documenter, documentation-expert | Technical writing |
All personas in: plugins/personas/
🔄 Recommended Audit Loop
- Red Team (Security Auditor) → find exploits
- Architect → validate design didn't add complexity
- QA Expert → find untested edge cases
Run architect AFTER red team to catch security-fix side effects.
