launch-copilot-terminal

name	launch-copilot-terminal
description	Launch a new terminal running Copilot CLI with a requested title, color label, and working directory. Supports macOS iTerm2/Terminal.app and Windows Terminal, prompt-driven sessions, existing-session resume, explicit terminal selection, and new/current window targeting.
compatibility	Requires macOS with iTerm2 or Terminal.app and Bash, or Windows with Windows Terminal and PowerShell 5.1+; Copilot CLI must be on PATH.

Launch Copilot Terminal

Use this skill when the user asks to launch, open, spawn, or start a new Copilot CLI terminal/session/window with a title, color, working directory, and initial prompt, or to resume an existing session in a new terminal.

Behavior

• Launches Windows Terminal on Windows. On macOS, terminal=auto uses Terminal.app to avoid surprising iTerm2 Automation prompts; terminal=iterm2 and terminal=terminal select explicitly. The macOS helper also accepts iterm, terminal2, and terminal.app aliases.
• By default the session opens in a separate window; window=current opens a tab in the current window.
• In prompt mode, starts Copilot CLI with copilot -i <prompt> so the prompt is submitted into an interactive session.
• In resume mode, starts Copilot CLI with copilot --resume <session> to reattach to an existing session interactively (no prompt is submitted).
• Sets the terminal title. Windows uses a real tab color; macOS includes the requested color as a title label (for example, [green] Implementation).
• Uses an explicitly provided working directory; if none is provided, use the current working directory.
• Leaves the terminal open after Copilot exits.
• Supports common color names and #RRGGBB/RRGGBB hex values.

Required inputs

• title: the terminal title.
• color: a natural color name such as green, blue, or purple, or a hex color such as #00ff00.
• Exactly one of:
  • prompt: the prompt to submit to Copilot (prompt mode).
  • promptFile: path to a UTF-8 prompt file (prompt mode, useful for very long prompts).
  • resume: the session ID or exact session name to resume (resume mode).

Optional inputs

• cwd: working directory for the launched session. Defaults to the current working directory.
• copilotArgs: extra Copilot CLI arguments, such as --model gpt-5.5 or --allow-all. On macOS, pass each argument with a separate --copilot-arg.
• copilotCommand: alternate Copilot command path. Defaults to copilot.
• terminal (macOS): auto (default), iterm2, or terminal. Auto uses Terminal.app. Explicit iTerm2 selection fails clearly when it is not installed.
• window: new (default) opens a separate terminal window; current opens a tab in the current window. Terminal.app may request macOS Accessibility permission the first time it creates a current-window tab; iTerm2 does not require GUI scripting for this operation.

How to launch

Detect the host OS and use the matching bundled helper. Use the actual installed skill path; do not assume the skill is installed under ~/.copilot/skills. If the platform terminal or Copilot CLI is unavailable, explain the missing prerequisite instead of attempting a launch.

macOS

Run the bundled Bash helper:

skill_dir="/path/to/launch-copilot-terminal"
"$skill_dir/Launch-CopilotTerminal.sh" \
  --title "Implementation" \
  --color green \
  --cwd "/Users/rob/proj/repo" \
  --terminal auto \
  --prompt "Implement the requested change and validate it."

--terminal auto selects Terminal.app. Use --terminal iterm2 (also iterm / terminal2) to require iTerm2.

For a long prompt and extra Copilot flags:

"$skill_dir/Launch-CopilotTerminal.sh" \
  --title "Autonomous worker" \
  --color purple \
  --cwd "/Users/rob/proj/repo" \
  --terminal iterm2 \
  --prompt-file "/path/to/prompt.md" \
  --copilot-arg=--allow-all \
  --copilot-arg=--model \
  --copilot-arg=gpt-5.5

Resume in a tab in the current macOS terminal window:

"$skill_dir/Launch-CopilotTerminal.sh" \
  --title "Branch: my session [a1b2c3d4]" \
  --color purple \
  --cwd "/Users/rob/proj/repo" \
  --terminal auto \
  --resume "a1b2c3d4-5678-90ab-cdef-1234567890ab" \
  --window current

Windows

$skillDir = "C:\path\to\launch-copilot-terminal"
& (Join-Path $skillDir "Launch-CopilotTerminal.ps1") `
  -Title "Implementation" `
  -Color green `
  -Cwd "C:\Users\robemanuele\proj\streamliner\streamliner" `
  -Prompt @'
Implement the requested change and validate it.
'@

For extra Copilot flags:

$skillDir = "C:\path\to\launch-copilot-terminal"
& (Join-Path $skillDir "Launch-CopilotTerminal.ps1") `
  -Title "Autonomous worker" `
  -Color "#00ff00" `
  -Cwd "C:\path\to\repo" `
  -CopilotArgs @("--allow-all", "--model", "gpt-5.5") `
  -Prompt @'
Run the implementation task autonomously.
'@

For very long prompts or prompts that may contain a PowerShell here-string terminator, write the prompt to a temporary file and pass -PromptFile.

To resume an existing Copilot session in a new tab inside the current Windows Terminal window:

$skillDir = "C:\path\to\launch-copilot-terminal"
& (Join-Path $skillDir "Launch-CopilotTerminal.ps1") `
  -Title "Branch: my session [a1b2c3d4]" `
  -Color purple `
  -Cwd "C:\path\to\repo" `
  -Resume "a1b2c3d4-5678-90ab-cdef-1234567890ab" `
  -Window current

-Resume accepts either a session ID or an exact session name (matching --resume on the Copilot CLI). Use a session ID when names may be ambiguous.

Notes

• The first explicit iTerm2 launch may trigger a macOS Automation prompt for GitHub Copilot.app → iTerm.app. Choose Allow once, or enable it later in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation. macOS owns this consent prompt; the launcher cannot suppress it. The iTerm2 AppleScript allows up to ten minutes for the one-time decision so worker startup does not fail with -1712 while the prompt is pending.
• On Windows, prefer -Prompt with a single-quoted here-string for normal multiline prompts.
• Use --dry-run on macOS or -DryRun on Windows to inspect the generated launch without opening a terminal.
• Do not use copilot -p for this workflow because it runs non-interactively and exits.
• Quote titles, paths, and prompts explicitly.
• Resume mode does not submit a prompt; the new tab drops directly into the resumed interactive session.
• Current-window mode targets the current iTerm2/Terminal.app window on macOS or the most recently used Windows Terminal window (wt -w 0) on Windows.