GitHub Copilot CLI Boosts Productivity with Natural Language Commands

Quick heads up for fellow devs. GitHub CLI v2.91.0 (shipped April 22) turned on telemetry by default. It collects command names, flags, OS, architecture, a device UUID, and timestamps on every run - sent back to GitHub's analytics. They call it pseudonymous. I'm not here to pile on. The team behind gh has shipped a tool I genuinely love using every day, and I trust they're trying to understand how agents like Copilot and Claude Code are using it. That's a fair thing to want to measure. But "on by default" is a big deal, and I think a lot of folks just haven't seen the changelog yet. So sharing the opt-out in case it's useful: gh config set telemetry disabled Or, if you want to disable tracking across tools that respect the standard:  export DO_NOT_TRACK=true Just one line. Worth knowing it's there. Also OpenAI's new image model is pretty good.

S08E17 - Context Is Everything: Getting the Most from GitHub Copilot with Joydip Kanjilal Software architect and Microsoft MVP Joydip Kanjilal joins Jamie to discuss GitHub Copilot and AI-assisted development — covering what Copilot actually is, why context is everything when prompting it, and the governance and training considerations for teams adopting it.

I reported a bug to GitHub. They fixed it in 2 days—then revamped their entire extension system. Here's what happened: While using GitHub Copilot CLI's extension system, I discovered a critical issue: creating a hook in an extension would override all global hooks. This broke my hook flows—the system I use to harden security across all my repositories. So I filed an issue. Within one week: • Root cause identified • Fix shipped to production • Complete extension system overhaul released The new capabilities are significant: → Custom slash commands now supported in the SDK → UI elicitation dialogs for structured user input → In-session management via /extensions command → Multi-language SDK support (Node.js, Python, Go, .NET) → Hot reload without full session restart This isn't just a bug fix. It's a signal. GitHub is treating Copilot CLI extensions as a first-class extensibility platform. For teams building internal tooling, security enforcement, or custom workflows—this changes the game. The speed of iteration here is remarkable. From power-user secret to documented, multi-language platform in 9 days. We're entering an era where developer feedback directly shapes the AI tools we use daily. If you're not experimenting with Copilot CLI extensions yet, now is the time. Full story in the video. Link in comments. #GitHubCopilot #DeveloperExperience #DevTools

Source: GitHub Official Documentation — docs.github.com/en/copilot GitHub Copilot shines when you give it the right context. 🤖 A .github/copilot-instructions.md file committed to your repo is all it takes — shared with your whole team, updated as your stack evolves. The framework is simple: WHAT — your stack & project structure WHY — architecture principles and conventions HOW — build, test, and lint commands Copilot follows what you tell it. Think of it as onboarding docs for your AI pair programmer — every contributor gets the same focused suggestions from day one. #GitHubCopilot #DeveloperProductivity #AITool

GitHub Copilot and Claude Code may both use slash commands, but they are not the same thing. Here is the simplest way to think about it: Built-in GitHub Copilot slash commands Controlled by GitHub and Microsoft Available based on your VS Code version, Copilot features, and extensions Designed for built-in actions inside Copilot Chat Examples: /explain, /fix, /tests, /doc, /new, /help Custom slash commands in Claude Code User-defined command patterns Used to shape how Claude responds Helpful for formatting, tone, structure, reasoning, and analysis Examples: /TLDR, /ELI5, /CHECKLIST, /SWOT, /COMPARE, /STEP-BY-STEP Claude Code skills Reusable automations for tasks you do often Great for turning repeated workflows into commands Examples: /review, /security, /optimize, /a11y, /test-plan My takeaway: GitHub Copilot slash commands = built-in product features Claude Code custom commands = flexible response controls Claude Code skills = repeatable workflow automation This distinction matters because many people see “slash commands” and assume they all work the same way. They do not. #GitHubCopilot #ClaudeCode #AI #DeveloperTools #VSCode #SoftwareDevelopment #Productivity #GenAI #Coding

Is your MR/PR "Comment Debt" slowing you down? We’ve all been there: A massive Merge Request, 50+ open threads, and an automated agent adding even more context. Going through them one-by-one is a productivity killer. I built a lightweight JS util to solve this. https://lnkd.in/gyh2ttg4 Run it in your browser console, and it gives you a structured "Hit List" of every unresolved review comment for GitHub Copilot to act on. What Copilot can do with this list: 1️⃣ Act: Systematically apply fixes across multiple files. 2️⃣ Reason: Explain why a suggestion might be a breaking change. 3️⃣ Learn: Generate a code-review-learnings.md to train the AI/Copilot on your team's specific coding standards. Usage: Open MR in Browser. DevTools → Console. Paste & Enter. Feed the markdown to Copilot. Shift from "Reviewing" to "Executing." #SoftwareDevelopment #GenerativeAI #GitLab #Github #Efficiency #CodingLife #Copilot #AiWorkflow #ReviewCommentExtractor #AiUseCases

If you are new to the GitHub Copilot CLI, this video is for you! I know the terminal can feel like a learning curve (it was for me), but adding Copilot changes everything. You no longer need to memorize complex syntax—you just ask for what you want in plain English, and it does not even need to be spelled correctly! In my newest tutorial, I strip away the complexity and focus purely on getting you up and running from scratch. Here is exactly what we cover to get you started: 🔹 What the Copilot CLI actually is (and how it differs from regular Copilot Chat) 🔹 A painless, step-by-step installation guide using PowerShell 🔹 How to seamlessly integrate it right into your VS Code terminal 🔹 The core commands you need to start navigating and executing tasks with AI 🔹 Create and use your first Agent for a .NET code migration Once we have the basics down, I even give you a sneak peek into some advanced features—like Custom Agents and YOLO mode—so you can see what's possible once you get comfortable. Ready to stop treating your terminal like a typewriter and let AI do the heavy lifting? Watch the complete beginner-friendly guide here: https://lnkd.in/gkkFumqs #GitHubCopilot #GitHubCopilotCLI #CopilotCLI #VSCode #LogicAppsAviators

Three GitHub repos blew up this week. All three solve problems you probably have right now. 1. microsoft/markitdown Converts PDFs, Word docs, HTML, and images into clean Markdown. If you're building anything with LLMs and need to feed documents into a pipeline, this replaces your messy parsing scripts. One install. Works. 2. coleam00/Archon Defines your AI coding workflow in YAML. Think GitHub Actions but for coding agents. Plan, implement, validate, review, PR. Same steps every time. No more "I got different results than yesterday." Each run happens in an isolated git worktree so nothing bleeds across tasks. 3. multica-ai/multica If you're running multiple Claude Code or Codex sessions and manually switching terminals to track progress, Multica treats them like actual teammates. They claim tasks, report blockers, share skills across the team. Your code stays local. Their servers only coordinate state. None of these require you to change how you work. They slot into what you're already doing and remove the friction you've been tolerating. All three are open source. #AIAssistedDevelopment #GenAI #DeveloperTools #OpenSource #GitHubTrending

I've been trying out GitHub Copilot CLI today, and no matter how many hints I dropped, including providing it an example of working code from another project, it kept saying that its code was correct and that any issue was external to the project. So I looked at the code and wow, what a mess. I identified the problem (and some other things that needed tidying) and wrote the following to Copilot: > i can still see usage of the ENV vars as well as a hard-coded redirect uri in the code when we should be now using rails credentials -- secondly, you're calling the get_token_set_from_callback wrong because you should be passing it the whole params object not just the code param It then fixed the issue that it was adamant didn't exist! Unfortunately I encountered another issue immediately after where it was trying to call a non-existent method, even though it previously researched the library. This is just one example of a repeated scenario I've encountered after getting Copilot to "one shot" an app for me. The bug-fixing is shots ad nauseam. Re models used: I created the app with Claude Opus 4.6, ran out of credits fixing bugs and switched to the free GPT-4.1, and hit the brick wall above. I have to say, the AI model companies definitely created a money-spinner!

If you're new to contributing on GitHub and looking for a good starting point to solve real world issues, Use this search query inside GitHub: label:"good first issue" language:"yourPreferredLanguage" You'll see real codebases, read production code, and understand how software is actually built. I'm finding this 10x better than solving isolated problems.