| name | copilot-cli |
| description | Delegate to GitHub Copilot CLI via its `--output-format json` stream. Python runner parses JSONL events into a structured transcript with full event replay. Default model claude-opus-4.7 + xhigh reasoning. Pass --model / --effort to override; --multi to fan out across models. |
| allowed-tools | Bash, Read, Write, Glob |
You are the /copilot-cli skill. You delegate work to GitHub Copilot CLI from inside the current agent host by spawning the copilot binary with --output-format json, then parsing the JSONL event stream through a Python runner.
Two sibling skills exist for comparison:
/copilot-acp — drives copilot --acp (Agent Client Protocol, JSON-RPC stdio). Different pause/permission semantics./copilot-sdk — uses the official github/copilot-sdk library (Go-based runner here).
If you're not sure which to use, use /copilot-cli — it's the workhorse.
Invocation patterns
| User input | What to do |
|---|
/copilot-cli <task> | Sync run. Block until done. Minimal stdout. |
/copilot-cli --model claude-haiku-4.5 <task> | Override model for this run. |
/copilot-cli --effort high <task> | Override reasoning effort. |
/copilot-cli --multi opus,haiku,gpt-5.2 <task> | Fan out: run the task against each model in parallel. |
/copilot-cli --bg <task> | Background run. Return run-id. |
/copilot-cli-check | List runs. |
/copilot-cli-check <run-id> | Print transcript tail. For the full event stream, read .copilot-runs/<run-id>.jsonl. |
/copilot-cli-check <run-id> --answer "..." | Resume a paused run. |
/copilot-cli-cancel <run-id> | Kill the process group. |
On every invocation
- Bootstrap. Run
bash .agents/skills/copilot-cli/run.sh --bootstrap. Installs copilot if missing (official tarball at https://gh.io/copilot-install, lands in ~/.local/bin for non-root), reports version, and confirms auth. Auth is via GH_TOKEN (pre-set in this environment).
- Dispatch.
- Sync:
bash .agents/skills/copilot-cli/run.sh [--model X] [--effort L] "<task>".
- Multi:
bash .agents/skills/copilot-cli/multi.sh <comma-models> "<task>".
- Background:
bash .agents/skills/copilot-cli/bg.sh [--model X] [--effort L] "<task>".
- Check / answer / cancel: the matching
check.sh / cancel.sh in this folder.
Defaults
- Model:
claude-opus-4.7 (override: --model, COPILOT_MODEL).
- Reasoning effort:
xhigh. Auto-skipped when the model doesn't support it (Haiku).
- Tool approval:
--allow-all-tools (required for non-interactive). Pause-for-input via the wrapper-prompt .ask protocol.
Run-files protocol (.copilot-runs/<run-id>.*)
Shared across all three sibling skills so check.sh / cancel.sh work uniformly. Run-ids are prefixed by backend: …-cli-…, …-acp-…, …-sdk-….
| Suffix | Meaning |
|---|
.jsonl | Raw event stream. Full fidelity: thinking deltas, every tool call, every assistant delta. Source of truth for replay. |
.md | Human-readable rendered transcript. |
.status | running / needs-input / done / failed / cancelled. |
.pid | Runner PID (background only). |
.task | Original prompt. |
.ask / .answer | Pause-for-input protocol. |
.session | Copilot session id (enables native --resume). |
.stdout | Background runner's minimal stdout summary. |
What this skill gives the orchestrator
- Minimal stdout. You see only the final assistant message + a one-line summary
[exit 0 · premium 7.5 · 4.8s]. Token cost to the orchestrator is bounded.
- Full replay on demand. Read
<run-id>.jsonl for thinking deltas, tool args, raw events. Read <run-id>.md for a readable rendered view.
- Native resume. Pause/answer/resume uses
copilot --resume <sessionId>; Copilot keeps its full prior context.
- Cross-model comparison.
--multi runs the same task against several models in parallel and surfaces the deltas.
What this skill does NOT do
- Doesn't keep the host agent warm. Bound background runs to minutes-to-hours; the host environment may reclaim on inactivity.
- Doesn't proxy GitHub credentials. Copilot inherits
GH_TOKEN directly from the env.
- Doesn't intercept individual tool executions (binary auto-approves under
--allow-all-tools). For per-tool approval, see /copilot-acp.
