Merge pull request #7814 from microsoft/copilot-custom-instructions

Copilot-custom-instructions

Author: ntrogh

docs/copilot/copilot-customization.md

@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ Custom instructions consist of natural language instructions and should be short
 
 Copilot can help you generate code, for example as part of a refactoring, generating unit tests, or implementing a feature. You might have specific libraries you want to use in your project, or a particular coding style you want to follow for the code that Copilot generates.
 
+> [!NOTE]
+> Copilot does not apply code-generation instructions for [code completions](/docs/copilot/ai-powered-suggestions.md).
+
 ### Use settings
 
 You can configure custom code-generation instructions by using the `setting(github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.instructions)` setting. You can define custom instructions at the User or Workspace level, and you can also specify language-specific instructions. Get more information about [language-specific settings](/docs/getstarted/settings.md#language-specific-editor-settings).
@@ -58,8 +61,10 @@ Always add comments.
 
 You can also store custom instructions in your workspace or repository in a `.github/copilot-instructions.md` file and have VS Code automatically picks up this file.
 
+If you define custom instructions in both the `.github/copilot-instructions.md` file and in settings, Copilot tries to combine instructions from both sources.
+
 > [!NOTE]
-> GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio also detect the `.github/copilot-instructions.md` file. If you have a workspace that you use in both VS Code and Visual Studio, you can use the same file to define custom instructions for both editors.
+> GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio also detects the `.github/copilot-instructions.md` file. If you have a workspace that you use in both VS Code and Visual Studio, you can use the same file to define custom instructions for both editors.
 
 1. Set the `setting(github.copilot.chat.codeGeneration.useInstructionFiles)` setting to `true` to instruct Copilot in VS Code to use the custom instructions file.
 
@@ -76,7 +81,7 @@ You can also store custom instructions in your workspace or repository in a `.gi
 
 You can use Copilot to generate tests for your code, for example by using the `@workspace /tests` prompt in the Chat view. You can define custom instructions to help Copilot generate tests that are specific to your project and development workflow.
 
-To configure custom test-generation instructions, use the `setting(github.copilot.chat.testGeneration.instructions)` setting. You can define custom instructions at the User or Workspace level, and you can also specify language-specific instructions. Get more information about [language-specific settings](/docs/getstarted/settings.md#language-specific-editor-settings). For example, you might specify a different testing framework to use for each language.
+To configure custom test-generation instructions, use the `setting(github.copilot.chat.testGeneration.instructions)` setting. You can define custom instructions at the User or Workspace level.
 
 The following code snippet shows how to define a set of instructions in the `settings.json` file. To define instruction directly in settings, configure the `text` property. To reference an external file, configure the `file` property.
 
@@ -108,8 +113,6 @@ Always use React functional components.
 
 * Don't refer to external resources in the instructions, such as specific coding standards.
 
-* Define language-specific instructions to get more accurate generated code for each language.
-
 * Make it easy to share custom instructions with your team or across projects by storing your instructions in an external file. You can also version control the file to track changes over time.
 
 ## Settings