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Copilot Agent Creator

Create custom agent profiles (.agent.md files) for GitHub Copilot across VS Code, the Copilot CLI, and the Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com. Covers the frontmatter schema with per-surface compatibility, tool aliases and VS Code tool sets, model selection, handoffs, subagents, hooks, and MCP servers.

What it does

A single agent profile can run on several Copilot surfaces, but many properties only work on some of them. The skill gives an agent a step-by-step workflow for planning, writing, and testing a profile, and loads detailed reference material only when the task needs it.

Topics covered:

  • The agent profile format
  • Storage scope: repository, user, organization, enterprise, plugin, and Claude-format locations
  • Tools: portable aliases, MCP namespacing, and least-privilege defaults
  • Model selection
  • Handoffs, subagents, user-invocable, and disable-model-invocation
  • Fields that only some surfaces support
  • Which locations and files VS Code's Copilot harness reads, compared with the Local agent
  • MCP server configuration and secrets for the cloud agent
  • Writing effective prompts and descriptions

Where it applies

Use it when an agent writes or debugs Copilot agent profiles for VS Code, the Copilot CLI, or the cloud agent. The VS Code guide under Visual Studio Code covers the same file format from the editor's side.

Install

# Install globally for all detected agents
npx skills add CowboyLogic/ai-dev --skill agent-creator-copilot -g

# Install for a specific agent only
npx skills add CowboyLogic/ai-dev --skill agent-creator-copilot --agent copilot -g

Using gh copilot (Copilot CLI only)

gh copilot skill install CowboyLogic/ai-dev/skills/agent-creator-copilot

Verify installation

npx skills ls -g