GitHub Copilot CLI Handbook

A no-fluff, community-maintained reference for user-facing GitHub Copilot CLI features.

Live site: aosama.github.io/copilot-cli-handbook

What This Is

This project exists to answer one question: "What can I use in GitHub Copilot CLI?"

It is a friendly handbook for the community, not a tutorial, installation guide, or marketing page. The goal is simple: keep a concise, accurate record of what people can actually use in Copilot CLI, backed by official sources.

The site has a single Handbook page at / providing instruction files, commands, flags, hooks, and MCP configuration.

Source of Truth

Handbook content should stay grounded in official GitHub sources:

• GitHub Copilot CLI releases
• GitHub Copilot how-tos
• GitHub Copilot CLI command reference

Local Development

Requires the current Node LTS release. This repo is pinned to 24.14.0 in .nvmrc.

npm install          # install dependencies
npm run dev          # local dev server → http://localhost:4321/copilot-cli-handbook
npm run build        # production build → dist/
npm run preview      # preview build → http://localhost:4321/copilot-cli-handbook
npm run lint         # check formatting with Prettier
npm run format       # auto-fix formatting
npm run test:e2e     # Playwright end-to-end tests
npm run test:e2e:ui  # Playwright UI mode

Formatting is enforced with Prettier, Husky, and lint-staged.

Project Structure

.
├── src/
│   ├── content/
│   │   └── handbook/
│   │       └── index.md           # Handbook page content (route /)
│   ├── content.config.ts          # Astro content collection schema
│   ├── layouts/
│   │   └── BaseLayout.astro       # Shared layout and navigation
│   ├── pages/
│   │   └── index.astro            # Renders index.md
│   └── styles/
│       └── global.css             # Global theme and layout styles
├── playwright-regression/
│   └── site-regression.spec.ts    # End-to-end site coverage
├── astro.config.mjs
├── playwright.config.ts
└── .github/workflows/
    ├── deploy.yml
    ├── preview-deploy.yml
    ├── regression.yml
    ├── update-handbook.md          # Agentic workflow source (edit this)
    └── update-handbook.lock.yml   # Compiled workflow (do not edit directly)

Astro pages stay thin on purpose; long-form content lives in Markdown under src/content/handbook/.

Automated handbook updates

The handbook is kept current by a GitHub Agentic Workflow that runs on a daily schedule and can also be triggered manually.

File	Purpose
.github/workflows/update-handbook.md	Workflow source — edit this to change instructions
.github/workflows/update-handbook.lock.yml	Compiled lock file — do not edit directly

The workflow reads only official GitHub sources (Copilot CLI releases, GitHub Docs, GitHub Blog), edits only src/content/handbook/index.md, and opens a pull request that is ready for review when relevant changes are found. It creates no PR if the page is already current.

To recompile after editing the source file:

gh extension install github/gh-aw  # one-time install
gh aw compile update-handbook

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. If you spot a missing capability, outdated guidance, or wording that could better help the Copilot CLI community:

1. Open an issue
2. Send a pull request with the proposed fix
3. Keep changes factual and grounded in the official GitHub sources used by the handbook

Run npm run lint locally before opening a pull request. CI runs the Playwright regression suite.

License

Licensed under Apache-2.0.