Version-Sentinel: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/copilot-instructions.md

Version-Sentinel copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from KSEGIT/Version-Sentinel. It costs 411 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

Workspace instructions for checking dependency versions before editing dependencies or running installation commands. A dependency is an external package that a project relies on.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use them when updating or installing npm, Python, Rust, or .NET packages, and when auditing versions before a release.
Why use it?
They prevent unverified version changes and record whether a package version was checked or intentionally pinned for a reason.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is KSEGIT/Version-Sentinel's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on Version-Sentinel 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 Version-Sentinel configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

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

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 Version-Sentinel copilot-instructions.md

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

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/ksegit/version-sentinel/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/ksegit/version-sentinel/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 411 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 411 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 $0.00411 $0.00411
Opus 5.5 $0.00164 $0.00164
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00082 $0.00082
Haiku 4.5 $0.00041 $0.00041

Measured 1mo ago against content hash 36c6bc7988d4, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

Version-Sentinel 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 1mo 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 · 30 lines

What it actually says

Version Sentinel

This workspace uses version-sentinel: dependency edits and install commands are blocked (via workspace hooks) until the target version is verified against its upstream registry and recorded.

When a tool call is BLOCKED with "version-sentinel"

  1. Look up the latest version of the package on its upstream registry:
    • npm → npmjs.com
    • pip / pyproject → pypi.org
    • cargo → crates.io
    • csproj → nuget.org
  2. Record the check by running in the terminal: bash scripts/vs-record.sh <ecosystem> <pkg> <version> <source-url> The source must be an http(s):// URL you actually saw, or intentional: <reason> for deliberate pins.
  3. Retry with the exact version you recorded. If the blocked input omitted the version or used a floating tag such as latest, rewrite it first. For example, use npm install [email protected], not npm install lodash or npm install lodash@latest.

Local paths, URLs, git sources, and workspace dependencies are outside registry-version checks. A NuGet PackageReference without Version may use Central Package Management, so the manifest gate ignores that form.

Intentional pins

To deliberately install a non-latest version (CVE mitigation, compatibility), record with intentional: <reason> as the source. These show as intentional-pin, not DRIFT, in audits.

Audit

Run bash scripts/check-versions.sh before tagging a release. It scans package.json, requirements*.txt, constraints*.txt, pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, *.csproj, *.fsproj, and *.vbproj and reports drift without blocking.

Escape hatch

Set VS_DISABLE=1 in the environment to disable blocking for a session (throwaway work only, with the user's awareness).

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. 1mo ago Changed · +2 lines · +81 tokens per session 36c6bc7988d4
  2. 1mo ago First seen · 28 lines · 330 tokens per session scan A 8114742bd8b2

Subscribe to this mod's changes

Version-Sentinel copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository KSEGIT/Version-Sentinel (6 stars, last pushed 26d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 411 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.

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