Copilot API

⚠️ EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY ⚠️ This project is a reverse-engineered implementation of the GitHub Copilot API created for educational purposes only. It is not officially supported by GitHub and should not be used in production environments.

Project Overview

A wrapper around GitHub Copilot API to make it OpenAI compatible, making it usable for other tools like AI assistants, local interfaces, and development utilities.

Demo

copilot-api-demo.mp4

Prerequisites

• Bun (>= 1.2.x)
• GitHub account with Copilot subscription (Individual or Business)

Installation

To install dependencies, run:

bun install

Using with Docker

Build image

docker build -t copilot-api .

Run the container

docker run -p 4141:4141 copilot-api

Using with npx

You can run the project directly using npx:

npx copilot-api@latest start

With options:

npx copilot-api@latest start --port 8080

For authentication only:

npx copilot-api@latest auth

Command Structure

Copilot API now uses a subcommand structure with two main commands:

• start: Start the Copilot API server (default command). This command will also handle authentication if needed.
• auth: Run GitHub authentication flow without starting the server. This is typically used if you need to generate a token for use with the --github-token option, especially in non-interactive environments.

Command Line Options

Start Command Options

The following command line options are available for the start command:

Option	Description	Default	Alias
--port	Port to listen on	4141	-p
--verbose	Enable verbose logging	false	-v
--business	Use a business plan GitHub account	false	none
--enterprise	Use an enterprise plan GitHub account	false	none
--manual	Enable manual request approval	false	none
--rate-limit	Rate limit in seconds between requests	none	-r
--wait	Wait instead of error when rate limit is hit	false	-w
--github-token	Provide GitHub token directly (must be generated using the auth subcommand)	none	-g

Auth Command Options

Option	Description	Default	Alias
--verbose	Enable verbose logging	false	-v

Example Usage

Using with npx:

# Basic usage with start command
npx copilot-api@latest start

# Run on custom port with verbose logging
npx copilot-api@latest start --port 8080 --verbose

# Use with a business plan GitHub account
npx copilot-api@latest start --business

# Use with an enterprise plan GitHub account
npx copilot-api@latest start --enterprise

# Enable manual approval for each request
npx copilot-api@latest start --manual

# Set rate limit to 30 seconds between requests
npx copilot-api@latest start --rate-limit 30

# Wait instead of error when rate limit is hit
npx copilot-api@latest start --rate-limit 30 --wait

# Provide GitHub token directly
npx copilot-api@latest start --github-token ghp_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

# Run only the auth flow
npx copilot-api@latest auth

# Run auth flow with verbose logging
npx copilot-api@latest auth --verbose

Running from Source

The project can be run from source in several ways:

Development Mode

bun run dev

Production Mode

bun run start

Usage Tips

• Consider using free models (e.g., Gemini, Mistral, Openrouter) as the weak-model
• Use architect mode sparingly
• Disable yes-always in your aider configuration
• Be mindful that Claude 3.7 thinking mode consumes more tokens
• Enable the --manual flag to review and approve each request before processing
• If you have a GitHub business or enterprise plan account with Copilot, use the --business or --enterprise flag respectively

Manual Request Approval

When using the --manual flag, the server will prompt you to approve each incoming request:

? Accept incoming request? > (y/N)

This helps you control usage and monitor requests in real-time.

API Key Authorization (OpenAI-Compatible)

This API now supports OpenAI-style API key authorization. To secure your endpoints:

1. Set the API Key in Docker

   • Pass your API key as an environment variable when running the container:

     docker run -e OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... your-copilot-api-image

   • Or set it in your Dockerfile/compose as OPENAI_API_KEY.

2. Authorize Requests

   • All API endpoints (except /) require the Authorization header:

     Authorization: Bearer sk-...

   • This mimics the OpenAI API client format.

3. Error Handling

   • If the header is missing or the key is incorrect, a 401 Unauthorized error is returned in the OpenAI error format.