Borrowing it
Nothing to install: this file belongs to timothywarner/copilot-dev. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/timothywarner/copilot-dev/main/.github/instructions/Python MCP Instructions.instructions.mdgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/timothywarner/copilot-devWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/timothywarner/copilot-dev/python-mcp-instructions)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/timothywarner/copilot-dev/python-mcp-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/timothywarner/copilot-dev/python-mcp-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.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/timothywarner/copilot-dev/python-mcp-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/timothywarner/copilot-dev/python-mcp-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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 5.1 | $0.01600 | $0.01600 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00640 | $0.00640 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00320 | $0.00320 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00160 | $0.00160 |
Grade A, and why
copilot-dev Python MCP Instructions.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 2mo 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 214 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Python MCP Server Development
Instructions
- Use uv for project management:
uv init mcp-server-demoanduv add "mcp[cli]" - Import FastMCP from
mcp.server.fastmcp:from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP - Use
@mcp.tool(),@mcp.resource(), and@mcp.prompt()decorators for registration - Type hints are mandatory - they're used for schema generation and validation
- Use Pydantic models, TypedDicts, or dataclasses for structured output
- Tools automatically return structured output when return types are compatible
- For stdio transport, use
mcp.run()ormcp.run(transport="stdio") - For HTTP servers, use
mcp.run(transport="streamable-http")or mount to Starlette/FastAPI - Use
Contextparameter in tools/resources to access MCP capabilities:ctx: Context - Send logs with
await ctx.debug(),await ctx.info(),await ctx.warning(),await ctx.error() - Report progress with
await ctx.report_progress(progress, total, message) - Request user input with
await ctx.elicit(message, schema) - Use LLM sampling with
await ctx.session.create_message(messages, max_tokens) - Configure icons with
Icon(src="path", mimeType="image/png")for server, tools, resources, prompts - Use
Imageclass for automatic image handling:return Image(data=bytes, format="png") - Define resource templates with URI patterns:
@mcp.resource("greeting://{name}") - Implement completion support by accepting partial values and returning suggestions
- Use lifespan context managers for startup/shutdown with shared resources
- Access lifespan context in tools via
ctx.request_context.lifespan_context - For stateless HTTP servers, set
stateless_http=Truein FastMCP initialization - Enable JSON responses for modern clients:
json_response=True - Test servers with:
uv run mcp dev server.py(Inspector) oruv run mcp install server.py(Claude Desktop) - Mount multiple servers in Starlette with different paths:
Mount("/path", mcp.streamable_http_app()) - Configure CORS for browser clients: expose
Mcp-Session-Idheader - Use low-level Server class for maximum control when FastMCP isn't sufficient
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.
- 2mo ago First seen · 214 lines · 1,600 tokens per session scan A 85b5d2d40f7c
copilot-dev Python MCP Instructions.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository timothywarner/copilot-dev (46 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 1,600 tokens to every session, about $0.0064 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.
Other instructions, from other repositories
vscode buildNext.instructions.md
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).
next.js AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for vercel/next.js, covering next.js development guide, codebase structure, monorepo overview, core package: packages/next and other important packages.
vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.md
Instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code oss third-party-notices pipeline, architecture, pipeline flow in ci, cache eligibility and rollout and applying the notice (cutover).
langchain AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for langchain-ai/langchain, covering global development guidelines for the langchain monorepo, corridor security analysis, project architecture and context, monorepo structure and development tools & commands.
vscode copilot-instructions.md
Copilot instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code copilot instructions, project overview, root folders, core architecture (src/ folder) and built-in extensions (extensions/ folder).
deepseek-harness AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness, covering agents.md, pre-stable apis and released session data, repository layout, commands and host sandbox failures.