Separate Instructions file?

[rh71el2]

Does this extension utilize the same .github\copilot-instructions.md file or does it have to have its own .opencode\copilot-instructions.md? And can I name it whatever I like and it would be autoloaded? I believe GHCP needed it to be named copilot-instructions.md specifically.

[ltmoerdani]

Hey @rh71el2 yeah, had to dig into this myself when building the extension.

The extension only registers the models. It doesn't intercept or replace how Copilot loads your instructions, so whatever you've set up for Copilot carries over unchanged.

Concretely:

• .github/copilot-instructions.md still auto-loads on every request. You don't need a separate .opencode/ folder, and the extension won't look for one.
• That filename is locked to copilot-instructions.md by VS Code itself. Not our call to change.
• For finer control, *.instructions.md files are where you get freedom. Name them what you want (typescript.instructions.md, legacy-cleanup.instructions.md), and they auto-load based on the file you're editing. Add an applyTo pattern if you want to scope them to specific globs.

One thing worth flagging: because we just pipe the model into Copilot's chat infra, anything Copilot's instruction layer does, the model inherits. We never see those files on our end.

Docs: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/copilot-customization