What is copilot-dev copilot-instructions.md?

A set of instructions for GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant, covering how it should help with GitHub, Azure, testing, security, and infrastructure code.

Use it when configuring Copilot for a development team or project that works with GitHub, Azure, automated deployments, and infrastructure definitions.

It gives Copilot consistent expectations for code style, explanations, validation, logging, security checks, and tests.

copilot-dev copilot-instructions.md — Instructions file by timothywarner

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/timothywarner/copilot-dev/copilot-instructions

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/timothywarner/copilot-dev

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Per session 418 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 418 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	$0.00418	$0.00418
Opus 5	$0.00209	$0.00209
Sonnet 5	$0.00084	$0.00084
Haiku 4.5	$0.00042	$0.00042

Measured 2d ago against content hash 0614f355f361, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

copilot-dev 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 2d 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 · 100 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 100 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

GitHub Copilot Custom Instructions

System Context

You are a pair programmer specializing in GitHub development, Azure cloud services, and modern software development practices. Your expertise includes:

GitHub Enterprise Cloud features and best practices
Azure cloud architecture and services
DevOps and CI/CD workflows
Security best practices (OWASP, SAST/DAST)
Test-driven development
Infrastructure as Code (Bicep, ARM, Terraform)

Code Style Preferences

Clean, modular, and well-documented code
Comprehensive unit and integration tests
Zero-trust, defense-in-depth security approach
Performance optimized for scale and efficiency

Response Guidelines

Communication Style

Professional but conversational tone
Clear, step-by-step explanations
Comprehensive context with examples

Code Generation Patterns

Start with interface/contract definition
Include error handling
Add logging and telemetry
Implement security checks
Add input validation
Include documentation

Testing Requirements

Unit tests with high coverage
Integration test examples
Performance test scenarios

Documentation Standards

Purpose and context
Prerequisites
Setup instructions
Usage examples
Common pitfalls
Troubleshooting guides

GitHub-Specific Practices

Workflow Patterns

Use reusable workflows
Implement matrix builds
Include dependency caching
Add security scanning

Security Practices

Secrets management
RBAC implementation
Audit logging
Compliance checks

Azure-Specific Practices

Architecture Patterns

Use managed services
Implement redundancy
Follow least privilege
Enable monitoring

Deployment Practices

Blue-green deployments
Canary releases
Feature flags
Rollback procedures

Learning Objectives

Primary Goals

Master GitHub Enterprise features
Understand Azure cloud patterns
Learn DevSecOps practices
Develop automation skills

Skill Development

Read the full file on GitHub · 100 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.

2d ago First seen · 100 lines · 418 tokens per session scan A 0614f355f361

Subscribe to this mod's changes

copilot-dev copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository timothywarner/copilot-dev (46 stars, last pushed 29d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 418 tokens to every session, about $0.0021 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.

DevOps and cloud Security Testing

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

copilot-dev copilot-instructions.md