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copilot-collections: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/copilot-instructions.md

copilot-collections copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from canonical/copilot-collections. It costs 1,215 tokens per session, scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

Project instructions for a toolkit that shares GitHub Copilot instructions, prompt templates, and agent skills across Canonical repositories. Repositories list the collections they need in a YAML file, and scripts copy the matching files into their GitHub configuration folders.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when editing collections, prompts, agent files, YAML configuration, or the scripts that install them. It also identifies Bash, YAML, Markdown, yq, and shellcheck as relevant tools.
Why use it?
They explain how the toolkit is organized and how its synchronization process works. This helps changes stay compatible with the configuration, scripts, and shared content.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot ✓ vendor

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is canonical/copilot-collections's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on copilot-collections 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 copilot-collections configures →

Needs its repository: it runs a file that does not travel with it, so clone the repository first. The line is ./scripts/validate_collections.sh ..

not rated 32repo +1 3d ago A scan 1,215 tokens original Apache-2.0
View source ↗ canonical/copilot-collections
About the project

Canonical Copilot Collections is a repository for organizing and distributing GitHub Copilot instructions, prompts, agents, and skills across Canonical repositories. Teams configure repositories to subscribe to shared collections, such as Python, documentation, or Juju development guidance, and keep those assets synchronized.

canonical/copilot-collections · 32 stars · on GitHub

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to canonical/copilot-collections. 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/canonical/copilot-collections/main/.github/copilot-instructions.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/canonical/copilot-collections

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 copilot-collections copilot-instructions.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/canonical/copilot-collections/copilot-instructions/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/canonical/copilot-collections/copilot-instructions)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/canonical/copilot-collections/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/canonical/copilot-collections/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 copilot-collections copilot-instructions.md

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/canonical/copilot-collections/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/canonical/copilot-collections/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 1,215 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 1,215 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 $0.01215 $0.01215
Opus 5.5 $0.00486 $0.00486
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00243 $0.00243
Haiku 4.5 $0.00121 $0.00121

Measured 2mo ago against content hash fd4e75a66935, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

copilot-collections 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 2mo 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 · 121 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 121 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Copilot Instructions for canonical/copilot-collections

This repository is the "Toolkit" for centralized context management for GitHub Copilot across the Canonical ecosystem. It distributes standardized Copilot Custom Instructions and Prompts to other repositories via a subscription model.

High Level Details

  • Type: Utility/Toolkit.
  • Languages: Bash (logic), YAML (configuration), Markdown (content).
  • Core Function: Individual repositories define a .copilot-collections.yaml file listing "Collections" they need. This toolkit's scripts (install_collections.sh) parse that config and sync the corresponding Markdown files from assets/ or groups/<team>/ into the consumer's .github/ directory.
  • Supported Artifacts: Custom Instructions, Prompts, and Agent Skills.
  • Key Tools: yq (YAML processing), shellcheck (Script linting).

Project Layout

Directories

  • collections.yaml: The ROOT configuration file defining "Core" collections.
  • assets/: Contains source Markdown files for core instructions, prompts, and agents.
    • instructions/: Custom instruction files organized by category.
    • prompts/: Prompt template files.
    • agents/: Agent definition files.
  • skills/: Contains core agent skill directories (each containing SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter).
  • groups/: Contains team-specific collections.
    • Each subfolder (e.g., groups/charm-tech/) acts as a mini-repo with its own collections.yaml and asset folder.
  • scripts/: Contains the logic binaries.
    • install_collections.sh: The main engine that reads config and copies files.
    • validate_collections.sh: Validates referential integrity of collections.yaml files.
    • local_sync.sh: A wrapper for local usage by consumers.
  • tests/: Contains test scripts for the bash logic.
  • .github/workflows/:
    • test-toolkit.yaml: The CI pipeline for this repo.
    • auto_update_collections.yaml: A reusable workflow imported by consumer repos to auto-update their instructions.

Read the full file on GitHub · 121 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. 2mo ago First seen · 121 lines · 1,215 tokens per session scan A fd4e75a66935

Subscribe to this mod's changes

copilot-collections copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository canonical/copilot-collections (32 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 1,215 tokens to every session, about $0.0049 per session on Opus 5.5. 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.

Building agentsplatform-engineeringproduct-copilot-collectionssquad-amer
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