cognirepo: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/copilot-instructions.md

cognirepo copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from ashlesh-t/cognirepo. It costs 806 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

Repository instructions for using CogniRepo, a codebase search and context service, through GitHub Copilot. They define which CogniRepo lookup to use for different questions and what to do at the start of each session.

In plain words
What is it for?
Finding symbols and their callers, understanding code, checking architecture, searching code or documentation, and retrieving past decisions or error patterns.
Why use it?
They give the agent a consistent way to understand a large codebase, resume earlier work, and avoid repeating known mistakes. This reduces unfocused file browsing and missed context.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is ashlesh-t/cognirepo's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on cognirepo itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything cognirepo configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to ashlesh-t/cognirepo. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/main/.github/copilot-instructions.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ashlesh-t/cognirepo

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for cognirepo copilot-instructions.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/copilot-instructions/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/copilot-instructions)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/copilot-instructions/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for cognirepo copilot-instructions.md

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ashlesh-t/cognirepo/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 806 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 806 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00806 $0.00806
Opus 5 $0.00403 $0.00403
Sonnet 5 $0.00161 $0.00161
Haiku 4.5 $0.00081 $0.00081

Measured 8d ago against content hash d091035f0c4e, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-08, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

cognirepo copilot-instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 8d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.github/copilot-instructions.md · 60 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 60 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

CogniRepo — GitHub Copilot Instructions

CogniRepo MCP tools are available. Use them before any native file exploration. Most valuable on codebases ≥ 15K LOC.

Session start (call in this order every session)

  1. mcp_cognirepo_get_session_brief — architecture, hot symbols, index health
  2. mcp_cognirepo_get_last_context — resume where last agent left off (cross-agent handoff)
  3. mcp_cognirepo_get_user_profile — user's interaction style; apply framing_hints to ALL responses
  4. mcp_cognirepo_get_error_patterns — past recurring errors; do not repeat them

Tool routing

Task Use first
Find where a function lives mcp_cognirepo_lookup_symbol
Understand code or a query mcp_cognirepo_context_pack
Find all callers of a function mcp_cognirepo_who_calls
Past decisions or bugs mcp_cognirepo_episodic_search
Architecture overview mcp_cognirepo_architecture_overview
Exact string/token search mcp_cognirepo_search_token
Semantic code search mcp_cognirepo_semantic_search_code
Search documentation mcp_cognirepo_search_docs
Symbol neighbourhood graph mcp_cognirepo_subgraph
Module dependency tree mcp_cognirepo_dependency_graph
Explain a recent change mcp_cognirepo_explain_change
Store a memory or discovery mcp_cognirepo_store_memory
Retrieve past memories mcp_cognirepo_retrieve_memory
Record architectural decision mcp_cognirepo_record_decision
Log an event or milestone mcp_cognirepo_log_episode
Record an error encountered mcp_cognirepo_record_error
Avoid repeating past errors mcp_cognirepo_get_error_patterns
User states a preference mcp_cognirepo_record_user_preference
List registered org repos mcp_cognirepo_list_org_context
Search across all repos mcp_cognirepo_org_wide_search
Repo dependency graph mcp_cognirepo_org_dependencies
Trace symbol across services mcp_cognirepo_cross_repo_traverse
Link two repos mcp_cognirepo_link_repos

Read the full file on GitHub · 60 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 8d ago First seen · 60 lines · 806 tokens per session scan A d091035f0c4e

Subscribe to this mod's changes

cognirepo copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository ashlesh-t/cognirepo (14 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 806 tokens to every session, about $0.0040 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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