Copilot coding agent

GitHub Copilot Coding Agent — Issue → Draft PR automation

If you add the ai-copilot label to an issue, GitHub Actions automatically assigns it to Copilot, and Copilot creates a branch → writes code → opens a Draft PR.

When to use this skill

• When PMs/designers create issues and Copilot starts implementation without a developer
• When offloading backlog issues (refactors/docs/tests) to Copilot
• When delegating follow-up work created by Vibe Kanban / Conductor to Copilot
• When automating pipelines like Jira → GitHub Issue → Copilot PR

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Prerequisites

• GitHub plan: Copilot Pro+, Business, or Enterprise
• Copilot Coding Agent enabled: Must be enabled in repo settings
• gh CLI: Authenticated
• PAT: Personal Access Token with repo scope

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One-time setup

# One-click setup (register token + deploy workflow + create label)
bash scripts/copilot-setup-workflow.sh

This script does:

1. Register COPILOT_ASSIGN_TOKEN as a repo secret
2. Deploy .github/workflows/assign-to-copilot.yml
3. Create the ai-copilot label

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Usage

Option 1: GitHub Actions automation (recommended)

# Create issue + ai-copilot label → auto-assign Copilot
gh issue create \
  --label ai-copilot \
  --title "Add user authentication" \
  --body "Implement JWT-based auth with refresh tokens. Include login, logout, refresh endpoints."

Option 2: Add a label to an existing issue

# Add label to issue #42 → trigger Actions
gh issue edit 42 --add-label ai-copilot

Option 3: Assign directly via script

export COPILOT_ASSIGN_TOKEN=<your-pat>
bash scripts/copilot-assign-issue.sh 42

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How it works (technical)

Issue created/labeled
    ↓
GitHub Actions triggered (assign-to-copilot.yml)
    ↓
Look up Copilot bot ID via GraphQL
    ↓
replaceActorsForAssignable → set Copilot as assignee
    ↓
Copilot Coding Agent starts processing the issue
    ↓
Create branch → write code → open Draft PR
    ↓
Auto-assign you as PR reviewer

Required GraphQL header:

GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support,coding_agent_model_selection

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GitHub Actions workflows

Workflow	Trigger	Purpose
assign-to-copilot.yml	Issue labeled ai-copilot	Auto-assign to Copilot
copilot-pr-ci.yml	PR open/update	Run CI (build + tests)

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Copilot PR limitations

Copilot is treated like an external contributor.

• PRs are created as Draft by default
• Before the first Actions run, a manual approval from someone with write access is required
• After approval, copilot-pr-ci.yml CI runs normally

# Check CI after manual approval
gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/'
gh pr view <pr-number>

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planno (plannotator) integration — optional

Review the issue spec in planno before assigning to Copilot (independent skill, not required):

Review and approve this issue spec in planno

After approval, add the ai-copilot label → trigger Actions.

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Common use cases

1. Label-based Copilot queue

PM writes an issue → add ai-copilot label
→ Actions auto-assigns → Copilot creates Draft PR
→ Team only performs PR review

2. Combined with Vibe Kanban / Conductor

Follow-up issues created by Vibe Kanban:
  refactors/docs cleanup/add tests
  → ai-copilot label → Copilot handles
→ Team focuses on main feature development

3. External system integration

Jira issue → Zapier/webhook → auto-create GitHub Issue
→ ai-copilot label → Copilot PR
→ Fully automated pipeline

4. Refactoring backlog processing

# Bulk-add label to backlog issues
gh issue list --label "tech-debt" --json number \
  | jq '.[].number' \
  | xargs -I{} gh issue edit {} --add-label ai-copilot

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Check results

# List PRs created by Copilot
gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/'

# Specific issue status
gh issue view 42

# PR CI status
gh pr checks <pr-number>

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References

• GitHub Copilot Coding Agent overview
• Ask Copilot to create a PR (GraphQL example)
• Official docs: assign Copilot to an issue
• Copilot PR permissions/limitations
• GitHub Copilot coding agent (VSCode docs)

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Quick Reference

=== Setup ===
bash scripts/copilot-setup-workflow.sh   one-time setup

=== Issue assignment ===
gh issue create --label ai-copilot ...  new issue + auto-assign
gh issue edit <num> --add-label ai-copilot  existing issue
bash scripts/copilot-assign-issue.sh <num>  manual assign

=== Verify results ===
gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/'    Copilot PR list
gh pr view <num>                        PR details
gh pr checks <num>                      CI status

=== Constraints ===
Copilot Pro+/Business/Enterprise required
First PR requires manual approval (treated as an external contributor)
PAT: repo scope required