Copilot-Skills: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/instructions/new-project.instructions.md

Copilot-Skills new-project.instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from TheSethRose/Copilot-Skills. It costs 1,600 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

Instructions for creating a new software project, including its initial files, folder structure, dependencies, and development setup. They apply when a request mentions creating, initializing, scaffolding, or setting up a project.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use them to plan project initialization, generate starter code, configure version control, document the setup, and prepare development or delivery automation.
Why use it?
They help avoid missing basic project files or creating a confusing structure at the start of development.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is TheSethRose/Copilot-Skills's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on Copilot-Skills 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 Copilot-Skills configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to TheSethRose/Copilot-Skills. 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/TheSethRose/Copilot-Skills/main/.github/instructions/new-project.instructions.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/TheSethRose/Copilot-Skills

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 Copilot-Skills new-project.instructions.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/thesethrose/copilot-skills/new-project.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/thesethrose/copilot-skills/new-project)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/thesethrose/copilot-skills/new-project"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/thesethrose/copilot-skills/new-project.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 1,600 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 1,600 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 $0.01600 $0.01600
Opus 5 $0.00800 $0.00800
Sonnet 5 $0.00320 $0.00320
Haiku 4.5 $0.00160 $0.00160

Measured 7d ago against content hash e32f539874f6, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

Copilot-Skills new-project.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 7d 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/new-project.instructions.md · 244 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 244 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

New Project Creation - Automatic Context Instructions

Related Prompt: /new-project
Related Skill: .github/copilot-skills/skill-template/SKILL.md

Triggers: new project, create project, initialize, setup, scaffold, boilerplate, template, starter, project setup

Context: Project Creation and Scaffolding

When working with project configuration files or when user queries contain creation/initialization keywords, this context is automatically activated.

Core Principles

Project Setup Philosophy

  • Convention over configuration - Follow ecosystem standards
  • Minimal boilerplate - Only include what's necessary
  • Clear structure - Organize files logically from day one
  • Documentation first - README, .gitignore, and LICENSE before code

Quality Indicators

  • Clean directory structure
  • Proper dependency management
  • Version control configured
  • Development environment documented
  • CI/CD pipeline ready

Default Behaviors

When user mentions "new project" or "create project"

  1. Suggest /new-project skill prompt for guided setup
  2. Detect project type from context or ask explicitly
  3. Check for existing project files to avoid conflicts
  4. Use language/framework-specific best practices

When user mentions "initialize" or "setup"

  1. Suggest appropriate initialization commands:
    • Node.js: npm init or pnpm create
    • Python: pip install -e . or poetry init
    • Rust: cargo init
    • Go: go mod init
  2. Create essential project files (.gitignore, README.md, LICENSE)
  3. Set up development tools (linters, formatters, pre-commit hooks)

When user mentions "scaffold" or "template"

  1. Reference .github/copilot-skills/skill-template/SKILL.md for skill creation
  2. Use framework-specific scaffolding tools:
    • React: create-react-app, vite
    • Next.js: create-next-app
    • Django: django-admin startproject
    • Flask: Manual structure with blueprints
  3. Apply framework conventions and best practices

Read the full file on GitHub · 244 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.

  1. 7d ago First seen · 244 lines · 1,600 tokens per session scan A e32f539874f6

Subscribe to this mod's changes

Copilot-Skills new-project.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository TheSethRose/Copilot-Skills (3 stars, last pushed 9mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 1,600 tokens to every session, about $0.0080 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 2026-08-31.

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