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Copilot Instruction Creator

Create custom instructions that tailor GitHub Copilot's responses at the personal, repository, and organization level. Covers copilot-instructions.md, path-specific .instructions.md files with applyTo and excludeAgent frontmatter, AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md/GEMINI.md agent instructions, precedence, and per-surface support.

What it does

Custom instructions give Copilot persistent context so you do not repeat it in every conversation. The skill guides an agent through choosing the right scope and file type, gathering project context, writing the instructions, and testing that they take effect. It tells the agent to check GitHub's current documentation first, because file support differs by surface and changes often.

Topics covered:

  • Personal, repository-wide, path-specific, agent, and organization instructions
  • Precedence between instruction sets
  • Which surfaces read which files
  • Structuring and writing short, non-conflicting instructions
  • Testing and maintaining instructions as project standards change

Where it applies

Use it when an agent sets up Copilot instructions for a person, a repository, or an organization.

Install

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

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

Using gh copilot (Copilot CLI only)

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

Verify installation

npx skills ls -g