Feeling behind on agentic coding? You’re not. In this demo-heavy session, we’ll show how to go from idea to shipped. You’ll see practical patterns for planning tasks, delegating implementation, reviewing AI-generated PRs, and shipping with guardrails. No hype - just real workflows you can apply with your team right away.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Understand how to use GitHub Copilot as a coding agent for your work.
- Learn how Copilot instructions and skills can configure Copilot for your environment.
- Have fun building useful things with Copilot.
- GitHub Copilot
- GitHub Copilot coding agent
- GitHub Copilot custom instructions
- Copilot skills
- Visual Studio Code
- Martin Woodward (@martinwoodward)
- Cassidy Williams (@cassidoo)
- Review the session description and learning outcomes.
- Open this repository in Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot enabled.
- Use the resource table to explore Copilot agent mode, coding agent workflows, instructions, skills, and the Microsoft Learn MCP Server.
- Try the Keep Learning prompts after the session to adapt the workflow to your own repo.
| Tool | Download |
|---|---|
| VS Code | Download Visual Studio Code |
gh command line |
Download GitHub CLI |
| GitHub Copilot command line | Download GitHub Copilot CLI |
| GitHub Copilot app | Install the GitHub Copilot app |
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Build 2026 next steps | Shared Build 2026 post-session resources and next steps. |
| Introduction to GitHub Copilot - Training | Learn the basics of how GitHub Copilot helps with development workflows. |
| Building Applications with GitHub Copilot Agent Mode - Training | Explore how to use agent mode to plan, build, and iterate on application changes. |
| Connect GitHub Copilot coding agent to the Azure MCP Server | See how coding agents can use MCP servers to access additional tools and context. |
| Get started with the Microsoft Learn MCP Server | Add Microsoft Learn documentation search to Copilot-enabled workflows. |
| Watch the session recording | Watch the recorded Microsoft Build session. |
- Understand coding-agent workflows:
Explain how GitHub Copilot coding agent can turn an issue into an implementation plan and pull request for a small feature.
- Go deeper with current documentation:
Using the Microsoft Learn MCP Server, find current docs for GitHub Copilot agent mode and summarize how to set up a safe workflow with instructions and review checkpoints.
- Adapt the workflow to your team:
Help me design a team workflow for delegating work to Copilot, reviewing generated PRs, and adding guardrails for my repository.
This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit Contributor License Agreements.
When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.
This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.
This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.