Getting started with GitHub Copilot CLI

Introduction

GitHub Copilot CLI is a powerful terminal-native AI coding assistant that brings agentic capabilities directly to your command line. The Copilot CLI offers deep flexibility, GitHub workflow integration, and the ability to work autonomously on complex tasks while maintaining full user control.

This guide will help you start using the CLI.

Installation

Use one of these commands:

• Cross-platform (npm)

  Bash

  npm install -g @github/copilot
  

• Windows (WinGet)

  Bash

  winget install GitHub.Copilot
  

• macOS/Linux (Homebrew)

  Bash

  brew install copilot-cli
  

Starting the CLI for the first time

1. In the terminal, navigate to the project directory where you want to use Copilot CLI.

2. Start an interactive CLI session:

   copilot
   

3. In the CLI interface, enter /login and follow the on-screen prompts to authenticate with your GitHub account.

   You'll only have to do this the first time you use the CLI.

4. When prompted, confirm that you trust that the files in the current directory are suitable for use with an AI tool.

   Remarque

   Copilot won't make changes to your files without your explicit approval.

5. Try asking Copilot a question, for example:

   Copilot prompt

   Give me an overview of this project.
   

Core shortcuts to master

Shortcut	Action
Esc	Cancel the current operation
Ctrl+C	Cancel if thinking, clear input, or exit
Ctrl+L	Clear the screen
@	Mention files to include in context
/	Show slash commands
↑ and ↓	Navigate the command history

For a full list of shortcuts and available commands, enter:

/help

Using GitHub Copilot CLI non-interactively

You can also enter a command and get a response from Copilot directly in your terminal, without starting an interactive session.

To do this, pass a prompt to the CLI with the -p flag. For example:

copilot -p "In Git, how can I apply a commit from another branch"

The -p flag allows you to use GitHub Copilot CLI programmatically within scripts, for example to automate tasks using AI.

You can add the -s flag to tell the CLI to output only Copilot's response, omitting the additional usage information.

copilot -sp "YOUR PROMPT HERE"

For details of other flags you can use programmatically, and for more information, enter:

copilot help

or:

copilot help TOPIC

where TOPIC is one of the topics listed in the help output.

Next steps

Find out more about Copilot CLI:

• À propos de GitHub Copilot CLI
• Using GitHub Copilot CLI
• Best practices for GitHub Copilot CLI