Copilot-custmer

A shared playbook of GitHub Copilot agents, instructions, prompts, and guides for automating and standardizing engineering tasks at Vancity.

This repository is the single source of truth for reusable AI-assisted workflows across teams, organized by programming language for easy discovery.

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📁 Repository Structure

.github/                          # GitHub Copilot customizations
├── copilot-instructions.md       # Always-on workspace instructions
├── dotnet/                       # .NET / C# specific
│   ├── skills/                   # Complex multi-step agents
│   ├── prompts/                  # Slash commands
│   └── instructions/             # Auto-applied coding standards
├── python/                       # Python specific
│   ├── skills/
│   ├── prompts/
│   └── instructions/
├── javascript/                   # JavaScript / TypeScript specific
│   ├── skills/
│   ├── prompts/
│   └── instructions/
└── shared/                       # Language-agnostic content
    ├── skills/
    ├── prompts/
    └── instructions/

docs/                             # Educational materials
├── guides/                       # Learning tutorials
│   ├── comparison.md             # Understand customization types
│   ├── ai-instructions.md        # Write effective instructions
│   └── agents.md                 # Build autonomous agents
└── images/                       # Diagrams and visualizations

tools/                            # Development utilities
└── skill-creator/                # Tools for building/testing customizations

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🚀 Getting Started

Browse Content by Language

• .NET / C# - Skills, prompts, and instructions for .NET development
• Python - Python-specific customizations
• JavaScript - JavaScript/TypeScript customizations
• Shared - Language-agnostic customizations

Test a Prompt or Skill

1. Open GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code
2. Type / to see available commands
3. Select a command (e.g., /dotnet-upgrade, /code-review)
4. Follow the on-screen instructions

See Instructions in Action

Instructions automatically apply to matching files:

• Open a .cs file → C# style instructions activate
• Open a .py file → Python style instructions activate
• Ask GitHub Copilot for help, and it follows these guidelines

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📚 Learning Path

New to GitHub Copilot customizations? Follow this progression:

1. Understand the Types - Learn the difference between prompts, instructions, agents, and skills
2. Write Instructions - Master the art of writing effective AI instructions
3. Build Agents - Create autonomous multi-step agents with proper orchestration

Complete documentation: docs/

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🎯 What's in This Playbook?

Type	Description	Where to Find	How to Use
Skills	Complex multi-step autonomous agents	.github/<language>/skills/*/SKILL.md	Type /skill-name in Copilot Chat
Prompts	Simple slash commands for quick tasks	.github/<language>/prompts/*.prompt.md	Type /prompt-name in Copilot Chat
Instructions	Auto-applied context for specific file types	.github/<language>/instructions/*.instructions.md	Automatically activates when opening matching files
Guides	Learning materials and best practices	docs/guides/*.md	Read for understanding

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📝 Available Content

.NET / C#

• Skills: dotnet-upgrade - Automatic .NET framework upgrades
• Instructions: C# coding standards for all .cs files

Python

• Instructions: PEP 8 coding standards for all .py files

Shared / Language-Agnostic

• Skills: example-skill - Template for building new skills
• Prompts: code-review - Comprehensive code reviews

More content coming soon as teams contribute!

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✨ Contributing

Want to add your own agents, prompts, or instructions?

1. Choose the right folder: Use .github/<language>/ for language-specific content, or .github/shared/ for multi-language content
2. Follow format requirements: See CONTRIBUTING.md for YAML frontmatter schemas
3. Validate: Run python tools/skill-creator/scripts/quick_validate.py
4. Test: Try it in VS Code with GitHub Copilot
5. Submit: Create a pull request

Detailed guide: CONTRIBUTING.md

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🛠️ Development Tools

skill-creator Framework

The tools/skill-creator/ directory contains utilities for building and improving customizations:

• Validation: quick_validate.py - Check frontmatter and structure
• Packaging: package_skill.py - Create distributable .skill.zip files
• Evaluation: Specialized agents for testing and comparing outputs
• Reporting: Generate HTML review pages for iteration feedback

Documentation: tools/skill-creator/SKILL.md

Validation Before Committing

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Validate all customization files
python tools/skill-creator/scripts/quick_validate.py

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🔍 How It Works

Workspace Instructions

.github/copilot-instructions.md contains always-on instructions that apply to the entire workspace.

Language-Specific Instructions

Instructions in .github/<language>/instructions/*.instructions.md automatically apply when you open files matching their applyTo glob pattern.

Prompts and Skills

Prompts and skills appear in the / command menu in GitHub Copilot Chat. Type / followed by the customization name to invoke them.

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📖 Documentation

Document	Description
README.md	This file - repository overview
CONTRIBUTING.md	How to add content
docs/README.md	Learning path guide
docs/guides/comparison.md	Customization types explained
docs/guides/ai-instructions.md	Writing instructions guide
docs/guides/agents.md	Building agents guide
tools/skill-creator/SKILL.md	Development tools documentation
tools/skill-creator/references/schemas.md	Complete format specifications

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🏢 About Vancity

This playbook is maintained by the Vancity engineering organization to share knowledge and promote consistency across development teams.

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🔗 Quick Links

• Browse .NET Customizations
• Browse Python Customizations
• Browse JavaScript Customizations
• Browse Shared Customizations
• Learn How to Contribute
• Explore Learning Guides
• Development Tools

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Ready to get started? Pick a language folder and explore the available customizations!