What is copilot-ralph copilot-instructions.md?

Project-specific instructions for GitHub Copilot when working on Ralph, a Go tool with a command-line interface and terminal interface.

Following specifications, choosing the right project layers, writing Go code in the project’s style, handling errors, documenting exported code, and creating table-driven tests.

They give an agent the project’s required development process, code conventions, architecture boundaries, and testing expectations before it changes code.

How JanDeDobbeleer/copilot-ralph configures GitHub Copilot

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to JanDeDobbeleer/copilot-ralph. 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/JanDeDobbeleer/copilot-ralph/main/.github/copilot-instructions.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JanDeDobbeleer/copilot-ralph

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/jandedobbeleer/copilot-ralph/copilot-instructions/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/jandedobbeleer/copilot-ralph/copilot-instructions)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/jandedobbeleer/copilot-ralph/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/jandedobbeleer/copilot-ralph/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.

Your own site · 80×15

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

Per session 1,216 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 1,216 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	$0.01216	$0.01216
Opus 5.5	$0.00486	$0.00486
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00243	$0.00243
Haiku 4.5	$0.00122	$0.00122

Measured 2mo ago against content hash ce22075c4b74, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

copilot-ralph 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 · 171 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 171 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

GitHub Copilot Instructions for Ralph

This file provides quick reference instructions for GitHub Copilot when working on Ralph. For comprehensive details, see AGENTS.md.

Project Overview

Ralph is an iterative AI development loop tool built in Go, using:

CLI: Cobra for commands
TUI: Bubble Tea for terminal UI
AI: GitHub Copilot SDK
Testing: testify for assertions

Key Principles

1. Spec-Driven Development

Read specs first: All specs are in /specs/ directory
Implement per spec: Follow specifications exactly
Update spec first: If requirements change, update spec before code

2. Code Style

See Go-specific instructions for detailed Go conventions including:

No else statements - Use early returns
Error wrapping - Always use %w
Table-driven tests - Multiple test cases in one test
Bubble Tea patterns - Model-View-Update (MVU)
Package documentation - Document all exported symbols

3. Architecture

CLI Layer (cmd/ralph, internal/cli)
    ↓
TUI Layer (internal/tui)
    ↓
Core Layer (internal/core)
    ↓
SDK Layer (internal/sdk)

Dependency Rules:

CLI depends on TUI and Core
TUI depends on Core
Core depends on SDK
SDK has no internal dependencies
No circular dependencies

4. Bubble Tea Pattern

All TUI components use Model-View-Update. See golang.md for detailed patterns:

Model - State and data
Init - Initialize and return initial commands
Update - Handle messages and update state (no else statements!)
View - Render to string

5. Testing

Unit tests: Test individual functions
Mock dependencies: Use interfaces
Table-driven: Multiple test cases in one test
Integration tests: Guard with environment checks

File Structure

copilot-ralph/
├── cmd/ralph/              # Entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── cli/                # Commands
│   ├── tui/                # Terminal UI
│   │   ├── wizard/         # Initialization wizard
│   │   ├── runner/         # Loop display
│   │   ├── styles/         # Styling
│   │   └── keys/           # Key bindings
│   ├── core/               # Business logic
│   └── sdk/                # Copilot SDK wrapper
├── pkg/version/            # Version info
└── specs/                  # Specifications (READ THESE!)

Read the full file on GitHub · 171 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.

2mo ago First seen · 171 lines · 1,216 tokens per session scan A ce22075c4b74

Subscribe to this mod's changes

copilot-ralph copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository JanDeDobbeleer/copilot-ralph (54 stars, last pushed 9mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 1,216 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 agents

copilot-ralph copilot-instructions.md next to 6 instructions from other repositories
Mod	Type	Stars	Last push	Licence	Scan	Tokens	Works with
copilot-ralph copilot-instructions.mdJanDeDobbeleer/copilot-ralph	Instructions file	54	9mo ago	MIT	A	1,216	GitHub Copilot
vscode buildNext.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode	Instructions file	195k	yesterday	MIT	A	9,719	GitHub Copilot
next.js AGENTS.mdvercel/next.js	Instructions file	143k	today	MIT	A	7,461	Codex, OpenCode
langchain AGENTS.mdlangchain-ai/langchain	Instructions file	149k	yesterday	MIT	A	4,680	Codex, OpenCode
vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode	Instructions file	195k	yesterday	MIT	A	5,516	GitHub Copilot
vscode copilot-instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode	Instructions file	195k	yesterday	MIT	A	3,093	GitHub Copilot
deepseek-harness AGENTS.mddeepseek-ai/deepseek-harness	Instructions file	274k	2d ago	MIT	A	4,313	Codex, OpenCode

copilot-ralph: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot