awesome-copilot/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Awesome GitHub Copilot

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Awesome GitHub Copilot repository! We welcome contributions from the community to help expand our collection of custom instructions and prompts.

Prerequisites

Windows Users: Enable Symlinks

This repository uses symbolic links for plugins. On Windows, you need to enable symlink support before cloning:

1. Enable Developer Mode (recommended):

   • Open Settings → Update & Security → For developers
   • Enable Developer Mode
   • This allows creating symlinks without administrator privileges

2. Configure Git to use symlinks:

   git config --global core.symlinks true
   

3. Clone the repository (after enabling the above):

   git clone https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot.git
   

Note: If you cloned the repository before enabling symlinks, the symlinks will appear as plain text files containing the target path. You'll need to delete the local repository and re-clone after enabling symlink support.

Alternative for older Windows versions: If Developer Mode is not available, you can run Git Bash as Administrator, or grant your user the "Create symbolic links" privilege via Local Security Policy (secpol.msc → Local Policies → User Rights Assignment → Create symbolic links).

How to Contribute

Adding Instructions

Instructions help customize GitHub Copilot's behavior for specific technologies, coding practices, or domains.

1. Create your instruction file: Add a new .md file in the instructions/ directory
2. Follow the naming convention: Use descriptive, lowercase filenames with hyphens (e.g., python-django.instructions.md)
3. Structure your content: Start with a clear heading and organize your instructions logically
4. Test your instructions: Make sure your instructions work well with GitHub Copilot

Example instruction format

---
description: 'Instructions for customizing GitHub Copilot behavior for specific technologies and practices'
---

# Your Technology/Framework Name

## Instructions

- Provide clear, specific guidance for GitHub Copilot
- Include best practices and conventions
- Use bullet points for easy reading

## Additional Guidelines

- Any additional context or examples

Adding Prompts

Prompts are ready-to-use templates for specific development scenarios and tasks.

1. Create your prompt file: Add a new .prompt.md file in the prompts/ directory
2. Follow the naming convention: Use descriptive, lowercase filenames with hyphens and the .prompt.md extension (e.g., react-component-generator.prompt.md)
3. Include frontmatter: Add metadata at the top of your file (optional but recommended)
4. Structure your prompt: Provide clear context and specific instructions

Example prompt format

---
agent: 'agent'
tools: ['codebase', 'terminalCommand']
description: 'Brief description of what this prompt does'
---

# Prompt Title

Your goal is to...

## Specific Instructions

- Clear, actionable instructions
- Include examples where helpful

Adding an Agent

Agents are specialized configurations that transform GitHub Copilot Chat into domain-specific assistants or personas for particular development scenarios.

1. Create your agent file: Add a new .agent.md file in the agents/ directory
2. Follow the naming convention: Use descriptive, lowercase filenames with hyphens and the .agent.md extension (e.g., react-performance-expert.agent.md)
3. Include frontmatter: Add metadata at the top of your file with required fields
4. Define the persona: Create a clear identity and expertise area for the agent
5. Test your agent: Ensure the agent provides helpful, accurate responses in its domain

Example agent format

---
description: 'Brief description of the agent and its purpose'
model: 'gpt-5'
tools: ['codebase', 'terminalCommand']
name: 'My Agent Name'
---

You are an expert [domain/role] with deep knowledge in [specific areas].

## Your Expertise

- [Specific skill 1]
- [Specific skill 2]
- [Specific skill 3]

## Your Approach

- [How you help users]
- [Your communication style]
- [What you prioritize]

## Guidelines

- [Specific instructions for responses]
- [Constraints or limitations]
- [Best practices to follow]

Adding Skills

Skills are self-contained folders in the skills/ directory that include a SKILL.md file (with front matter) and optional bundled assets.

1. Create a new skill folder: Run npm run skill:create -- --name <skill-name> --description "<skill description>"
2. Edit SKILL.md: Ensure the name matches the folder name (lowercase with hyphens) and the description is clear and non-empty
3. Add optional assets: Keep bundled assets reasonably sized (under 5MB each) and reference them from SKILL.md
4. Validate and update docs: Run npm run skill:validate and then npm run build to update the generated README tables

Adding Plugins

Plugins group related prompts, agents, and skills around specific themes or workflows, making it easy for users to install comprehensive toolkits via GitHub Copilot CLI.

1. Create your plugin: Run npm run plugin:create to scaffold a new plugin
2. Follow the naming convention: Use descriptive, lowercase folder names with hyphens (e.g., python-web-development)
3. Add your content: Add agents, commands (prompts), and skills to the plugin folder using symlinks to existing repo files
4. Test your plugin: Run npm run plugin:validate to verify your plugin structure

Creating a plugin

npm run plugin:create -- --name my-plugin-id

Plugin structure

plugins/my-plugin-id/
├── .github/plugin/plugin.json  # Plugin metadata
├── README.md                   # Plugin documentation
├── commands/                   # Symlinked prompt files
├── agents/                     # Symlinked agent files
└── skills/                     # Symlinked skill folders

Plugin Guidelines

• Use symlinks: Plugin content should be symlinks to source files in agents/, prompts/, skills/ directories
• Valid references: All items referenced in plugin.json must exist in the repository
• Clear purpose: The plugin should solve a specific problem or workflow
• Validate before submitting: Run npm run plugin:validate to ensure your plugin is valid

Working with Plugins

Plugins are installable packages that contain symlinked agents, commands (prompts), and skills organized around a specific theme or workflow.

Plugin Structure

plugins/<plugin-name>/
├── .github/plugin/plugin.json  # Plugin metadata
├── README.md                   # Plugin documentation
├── agents/                     # Symlinks to agent files (.md)
├── commands/                   # Symlinks to prompt files (.md)
└── skills/                     # Symlinks to skill folders

Plugin Guidelines

• Symlinks, not copies: Plugin files are symlinks to the source files, avoiding duplication
• Instructions excluded: Instructions are not currently supported in plugins
• Validate before submitting: Run npm run plugin:validate to ensure your plugin is valid

Submitting Your Contribution

1. Fork this repository
2. Create a new branch for your contribution
3. Add your instruction, prompt file, chatmode, or plugin following the guidelines above
4. Run the update script: npm start to update the README with your new file (make sure you run npm install first if you haven't already)
   • A GitHub Actions workflow will verify that this step was performed correctly
   • If the README.md would be modified by running the script, the PR check will fail with a comment showing the required changes
5. Submit a pull request with:
   • A clear title describing your contribution
   • A brief description of what your instruction/prompt does
   • Any relevant context or usage notes

Note

We use all-contributors to recognize all types of contributions to the project. Jump to Contributors Recognition to learn more!

What We Accept

We welcome contributions covering any technology, framework, or development practice that helps developers work more effectively with GitHub Copilot. This includes:

• Programming languages and frameworks
• Development methodologies and best practices
• Architecture patterns and design principles
• Testing strategies and quality assurance
• DevOps and deployment practices
• Accessibility and inclusive design
• Performance optimization techniques

What We Don't Accept

To maintain a safe, responsible, and constructive community, we will not accept contributions that:

• Violate Responsible AI Principles: Content that attempts to circumvent Microsoft/GitHub's Responsible AI guidelines or promotes harmful AI usage
• Compromise Security: Instructions designed to bypass security policies, exploit vulnerabilities, or weaken system security
• Enable Malicious Activities: Content intended to harm other systems, users, or organizations
• Exploit Weaknesses: Instructions that take advantage of vulnerabilities in other platforms or services
• Promote Harmful Content: Guidance that could lead to the creation of harmful, discriminatory, or inappropriate content
• Circumvent Platform Policies: Attempts to work around GitHub, Microsoft, or other platform terms of service

Quality Guidelines

• Be specific: Generic instructions are less helpful than specific, actionable guidance
• Test your content: Ensure your instructions or prompts work well with GitHub Copilot
• Follow conventions: Use consistent formatting and naming
• Keep it focused: Each file should address a specific technology, framework, or use case
• Write clearly: Use simple, direct language
• Promote best practices: Encourage secure, maintainable, and ethical development practices

Contributor Recognition

We use all-contributors to recognize all types of contributions to this project.

To add yourself, leave a comment on a relevant issue or pull request using your GitHub username and the appropriate contribution type(s):

@all-contributors add @username for contributionType1, contributionType2

The contributors list is updated automatically every Sunday at 3:00 AM UTC. When the next run completes, your name will appear in the README Contributors section.

Contribution Types

We welcome many kinds of contributions, including the custom categories below:

Category	Description	Emoji
Instructions	Custom instruction sets that guide GitHub Copilot behavior	🧭
Prompts	Reusable or one-off prompts for GitHub Copilot	⌨️
Agents	Defined GitHub Copilot roles or personalities	🎭
Skills	Specialized knowledge of a task for GitHub Copilot	🧰
Plugins	Installable packages of related prompts, agents, or skills	🎁

In addition, all standard contribution types supported by All Contributors are recognized.

Every contribution matters. Thanks for helping improve this resource for the GitHub Copilot community.

Code of Conduct

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.

License

By contributing to this repository, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License.