What is DataFactory.MCP copilot-instructions.md?

Background instructions for Microsoft Data Factory topics, including M and Dataflow Gen2. M is the Power Query language used to transform data, while Dataflow Gen2 is a cloud service that runs those transformations and writes results to storage.

Use it when working with M queries, Dataflow Gen2, query performance, output destinations, advanced copy features, or connection management.

It gives an agent the domain context needed to understand Data Factory questions and point to the right project documentation.

DataFactory.MCP copilot-instructions.md — Instructions file by microsoft

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods

npx agentmods add instructions/microsoft/datafactory.mcp/copilot-instructions

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/DataFactory.MCP

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Per session 276 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 276 The same file — it is already loaded in full.

Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.

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	$0.00276	$0.00276
Opus 5	$0.00138	$0.00138
Sonnet 5	$0.00055	$0.00055
Haiku 4.5	$0.00028	$0.00028

Measured yesterday against content hash e17e90d9aa02, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

DataFactory.MCP 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 yesterday.

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 · 35 lines

What it actually says

Data Factory Knowledge

What is M

M (Power Query Formula Language) is a functional, case-sensitive, lazy-evaluated language for data transformation. Used in Power BI, Excel Power Query, and Dataflow Gen2.

What is Dataflow Gen2

Fabric's cloud ETL tool. Runs M queries, writes to Lakehouse/Warehouse. You define data transformations; platform handles orchestration.

Basic M Pattern

let
    Source = Lakehouse.Contents(null),
    Filtered = Table.SelectRows(Source, each [Status] = "Active"),
    Result = Table.SelectColumns(Filtered, {"ID", "Name"})
in
    Result

Additional Knowledge

When these topics come up, reference the corresponding file in docs/datafactory/:

Topic	File
Query timeout, slow performance, chunking	`performance.md`
Output destinations, new tables, staging	`destinations.md`
Fast Copy, Action.Sequence, Modern Evaluator	`advanced.md`

For connection management (creating/listing connections, supported types, UI form), reference docs/connection-management.md.

For DevOps/CI integration with Fabric.Mcp.Server (feed caching, publishing, trim safety), reference the devops.fabric-mcp-integration skill.

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.

yesterday First seen · 35 lines · 276 tokens per session scan A e17e90d9aa02

Subscribe to this mod's changes

DataFactory.MCP copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository microsoft/DataFactory.MCP (42 stars, last pushed 19d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 276 tokens to every session, about $0.0014 per session on Opus 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.

Writing and docs

codex AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md instructions for openai/codex, covering rust/codex-rs, the codex-core crate, code review rules, crate api surface and model visible context.

openai/codex · 5,182 tokens

buildNext

Working notes and architecture documentation for the new esbuild-based build system in build/next. Use when making changes to the new build pipeline (transpile/bundle commands, NLS plugin, source-map handling, resource copying, or self-hosting watch tasks).

microsoft/vscode · 6,785 tokens

DataFactory.MCP copilot-instructions.md