Home / Getting Started / GitHub Copilot Integration

GitHub Copilot Integration

Set up GitHub Copilot, in VS Code and as the coding agent on github.com, to keep your repo's /docs wiki current. It edits pages through the wikidown CLI, so .order files, breadcrumbs and links stay consistent.

Set it up

In Copilot agent mode in VS Code, at the root of your repo:

Install Wikidown from wikidown.org and run wikidown init --agents copilot in this repo.

Or from a terminal:

curl -fsSL https://wikidown.org/install.sh | sh     # Windows: irm https://wikidown.org/install.ps1 | iex
wikidown init --agents copilot

init seeds docs/Home.md if the wiki is empty and installs the files below. Commit them, so everyone on the team, and the coding agent, gets the same behavior.

What gets installed

File	What it does
`.github/copilot-instructions.md`	Repo-wide instructions: use the skill for anything in `/docs`, go through the `wikidown` CLI rather than editing files, and propose a wiki update when a code change alters user-visible behavior.
`.github/skills/wikidown/SKILL.md`	The `wikidown` skill: format rules, a command cheat sheet, and the editing workflow.
`.github/agents/wikidown.agent.md`	The `wikidown` custom agent (run-commands and search tools). Pick it in the VS Code agent picker; the coding agent on github.com uses it too.
`.github/chatmodes/wikidown.chatmode.md`	A chat mode for wiki editing. Without terminal access it shows you the exact `wikidown` commands to run instead.

If your repo already has a .github/copilot-instructions.md, init leaves it alone. Copy the wiki section from agents/copilot/copilot-instructions.md into it by hand. Passing --force would replace your file instead.

Everyday use

In VS Code, switch to the wikidown agent (or chat mode) and ask in plain words:

"Document the new --retry flag in the wiki."
"What does the wiki say about deploying to staging?"
"Rename the Setup page to Installation and fix every link to it."

With the default agent, the repo instructions still steer Copilot to the skill whenever a task touches /docs.

The coding agent on github.com

Assign an issue such as "Document the retry settings in the wiki" to Copilot, and it follows the same instructions and opens a pull request. It can only run wikidown if the CLI is installed in its environment, so add .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml:

name: Copilot setup steps
on: workflow_dispatch
jobs:
  copilot-setup-steps:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
        with:
          dotnet-version: 10.0.x
      - run: |
          dotnet tool install -g Wikidown.Cli
          echo "$HOME/.dotnet/tools" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"

The job must be named copilot-setup-steps; GitHub runs it before the agent starts work.

Check links in CI

Catch broken links and pages missing from their parent before they merge. Add these steps to a GitHub Actions workflow:

- uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
  with:
    dotnet-version: 10.0.x
- run: |
    dotnet tool install -g Wikidown.Cli
    echo "$HOME/.dotnet/tools" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
- run: wikidown check-links

check-links exits non-zero on any problem and skips example links inside code blocks.

Keeping the configs current

The installed files are copies; they don't update themselves. After upgrading Wikidown, run wikidown init --agents copilot --force and review the diff before committing. --force overwrites all four files, including your own copilot-instructions.md and any local edits. See Updating and Agents for more.