launch-copilot-terminal

name	launch-copilot-terminal
description	Launch a new Windows Terminal tab running Copilot CLI with a requested title, tab color, and working directory. Supports a prompt-driven interactive session, an existing-session resume, and targeting either a separate window or the current Windows Terminal window.
compatibility	Requires Windows, Windows Terminal (wt.exe), PowerShell 5.1+ or PowerShell 7+, and Copilot CLI 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 a new Windows Terminal tab. By default the tab opens in a separate window; pass -Window current to open the tab in the current Windows Terminal window instead.
• 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 Windows Terminal tab title and tab color.
• 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 Windows Terminal tab 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.
• copilotCommand: alternate Copilot command path. Defaults to copilot.
• window: new (default) opens the tab in a separate Windows Terminal window; current opens the tab in the current Windows Terminal window (wt -w 0).

How to launch

Use this skill only on Windows. If Windows Terminal or Copilot CLI is unavailable, explain the missing prerequisite instead of attempting a launch.

Run the bundled PowerShell helper from this skill directory. Use the actual installed skill path; do not assume the skill is installed under $HOME\.copilot\skills.

$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

• Prefer -Prompt with a single-quoted here-string for normal multiline prompts.
• Use -DryRun to inspect the generated launch command 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.
• -Window current targets the most recently used Windows Terminal window (wt -w 0); use it when the caller wants the new tab to land beside the current session.