Specialized Agent Support for GitHub Copilot CLI

[niksacdev]

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

Overview Add support for specialized, on-demand agents in GitHub Copilot CLI (similar to Claude Code's agent system) to enable developers to invoke domain-specific expertise for architecture review, code review, product management, UX design, and other specialized tasks.

Proposed solution

Problem Statement

Current Limitation

GitHub Copilot CLI currently supports:

• Custom instructions (.github/instructions/copilot-instructions.md) - Static context loaded for all interactions

Option 1: Native Agent Support (Preferred)

Add first-class agent support to GitHub Copilot CLI:

File Structure:

.github/
  agents/
    architect.md           # System architecture specialist
    code-reviewer.md       # Code quality and security
    product-manager.md     # Business value and requirements
    ux-designer.md         # User experience validation
    [custom-agent].md      # Teams can add their own
  instructions/
    copilot-instructions.md  # Base instructions (lightweight)

CLI Usage:

# Invoke specific agent
gh copilot ask --agent=architect "Review this design"

# List available agents
gh copilot agents list

# Show agent details
gh copilot agents show architect

# Use default mode (base instructions only)
gh copilot ask "Quick question about Python syntax"

Example prompts or workflows

**Current workflow **:

# Developer has to manually load context
gh copilot ask "Review this architecture: [paste 500 lines of design doc]
Also, act like a system architect with these instructions: [paste 300 lines of persona]"

Desired workflow:

# Clean, focused invocation
gh copilot ask --agent=architect "Review my event-driven design in docs/architecture/"

Desired workflow:

# PM agent with codebase context
gh copilot ask --agent=product-manager "Help me create GitHub issues for this feature request: [description]"

Additional context

No response

[RyanHecht]

Hi @niksacdev! Thanks for the feedback! This has been suggested before, and it's on the team's mind! Stay tuned! #109