data-formulator: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/copilot-instructions.md

data-formulator copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from microsoft/data-formulator. It costs 122 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

Project instructions for the Microsoft Data Formulator codebase, focused on its Python environment and source layout. They specify using uv, a Python package and environment manager, for installation and command execution.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use them when installing dependencies, running Python modules, executing tests, or working with the source under py-src/.
Why use it?
They prevent inconsistent dependency and command usage by giving agents one supported way to run and develop the project.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot ✓ vendor

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is microsoft/data-formulator's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on data-formulator 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 data-formulator configures →

About the project

Data Formulator is an interactive workspace where AI agents connect to data sources, answer questions, and create visualizations. It is used to explore and analyze data while branching into related questions without losing the context of each investigative path.

microsoft/data-formulator · 17,584 stars · on GitHub · data-formulator.ai

Reuse

Borrowing it

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

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 data-formulator copilot-instructions.md

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

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/microsoft/data-formulator/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/microsoft/data-formulator/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 122 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 122 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 $0.00122 $0.00122
Opus 5.5 $0.00049 $0.00049
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00024 $0.00024
Haiku 4.5 $0.00012 $0.00012

Measured 1mo ago against content hash a26dc6a1ae0d, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

data-formulator 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 · 9 lines

What it actually says

Project Instructions

Python Environment

  • Always use uv instead of pip for installing packages (e.g. uv pip install, uv pip install -e .).
  • Use uv run to execute Python scripts and modules (e.g. uv run python script.py, uv run pytest).
  • The virtual environment is at .venv/. Activate it with source .venv/bin/activate if needed.
  • The Python source is under py-src/. The project is installed in editable mode via uv pip install -e ..
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 First seen · 9 lines · 122 tokens per session scan A a26dc6a1ae0d

Subscribe to this mod's changes

data-formulator copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository microsoft/data-formulator (17,584 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 122 tokens to every session, about $0.0005 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.

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