What copilot canvas extensions y'all built

[WolfyBlair]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot Desktop

Body

plus there's no API reference in case I wanna build it myself

[AlpianPPLG]

Hi there!

Building custom integrations for GitHub Copilot's ecosystem is an awesome way to tailor the AI to your specific workspace and team workflows.

If you are looking to build extensions or integrations that interact with GitHub Copilot (including its chat and workspace features), GitHub handles this through the GitHub Copilot Extensions architecture, which is powered by the GitHub Apps framework.

📚 Official API References & Documentation

To get started with building your own extension, you can dive into the official developer guides here:

1. About GitHub Copilot Extensions:
   Check out the foundational overview on GitHub Docs: About GitHub Copilot Extensions. This explains how the data flows between the user, GitHub, and your custom agent.

2. Set Up & Build Guide:
   You can follow the step-by-step setup guide at GitHub Docs: Setting up Copilot Extensions. It covers creating your GitHub App, configuring permissions, and handling the request/response payloads.

💡 Tips for Building Canvas/Workspace Tools

• How it communicates: GitHub Copilot Extensions essentially function as webhooks. When a user interacts with your extension in the UI, GitHub sends an HTTP POST request with the user's prompt and agent context to your server, and your service streams back the custom responses or file-manipulation instructions.
• OpenOS / Templates: If you want a quick starting point, GitHub provides boilerplate repositories in their official organization (such as github/copilot-extension-template) to help you deploy a minimal working extension server using Node.js or Python in just a few minutes.

What kind of unique workflow or tool are you planning to build for your workspace? Would love to hear about your extension idea!