What is copilot-kit backend.instructions.md?

A set of rules for building web backends and APIs, which are the server-side parts of applications that exchange data with other software. It covers URL design, response codes, input checks, security, errors, and logging.

Use it when creating or reviewing API routes, choosing HTTP response codes, validating requests, protecting passwords and queries, formatting errors, and deciding what to log.

It removes guesswork from common API decisions and helps keep server code consistent and safer. It also reduces confusing responses and avoidable security mistakes.

How ivanshtokov/copilot-kit configures GitHub Copilot

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to ivanshtokov/copilot-kit. 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/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/main/.github/instructions/backend.instructions.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit

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.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/backend/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/backend)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/backend"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/backend/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.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/backend"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ivanshtokov/copilot-kit/backend.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 404 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 404 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.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00404	$0.00404
Opus 5.5	$0.00162	$0.00162
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00081	$0.00081
Haiku 4.5	$0.00040	$0.00040

Measured 2mo ago against content hash 6937bfc11cc6, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

copilot-kit backend.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/instructions/backend.instructions.md · 62 lines

What it actually says

Backend/API Standards

🎯 Before Any API Work

READ: .github/skills/api-patterns/SKILL.md

📋 REST Conventions

Use nouns, not verbs: /users not /getUsers
Use plural nouns: /users not /user
HTTP methods for actions:
- GET - Read
- POST - Create
- PUT/PATCH - Update
- DELETE - Delete

📊 Status Codes

Code	Meaning	Use When
200	OK	Successful GET/PUT/PATCH
201	Created	Successful POST
204	No Content	Successful DELETE
400	Bad Request	Invalid input
401	Unauthorized	Missing/invalid auth
403	Forbidden	Valid auth, no permission
404	Not Found	Resource doesn't exist
422	Unprocessable	Validation failed
500	Server Error	Our fault

🔐 Security Rules

Validate ALL inputs at API boundary
Use parameterized queries - never string concat
Hash passwords with bcrypt or argon2
Rate limit all endpoints
HTTPS only in production
Never expose internal errors to clients

🚨 Error Response Format

{
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "User-friendly message",
    "details": []
  }
}

📝 Logging

Log all errors with stack traces
Include request context (userId, requestId)
Never log sensitive data (passwords, tokens)

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.

2mo ago First seen · 62 lines · 404 tokens per session scan A 6937bfc11cc6

Subscribe to this mod's changes

copilot-kit backend.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository ivanshtokov/copilot-kit (4 stars, last pushed 9mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 404 tokens to every session, about $0.0016 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 2026-08-31.

Backend and APIs

copilot-kit backend.instructions.md next to 6 instructions from other repositories
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copilot-kit backend.instructions.mdivanshtokov/copilot-kit	Instructions file	4	9mo ago	MIT	A	404	GitHub Copilot
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copilot-kit: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot