At a Glance
Instructions are rule files you give Copilot in advance to define development rules it should follow.
They are loaded at the Repository / Organization / Personal scope, applying team conventions automatically without writing them into every prompt.
3 Scopes
| Scope | 📁 Location | 💡 Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 👤 Personal | CLI: ~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.mdVS Code: User Settings ( github.copilot.chat.*.instructions)GitHub.com: Copilot Chat → profile picture → Personal Instructions | Style preferences, response language, personal writing habits |
| 📦 Repository | .github/copilot-instructions.md (single file)or .github/instructions/*.instructions.md (with applyTo) | Project conventions, framework-specific rules, “always use library X” |
| 🏢 Org / Enterprise | GitHub.com → Organization Settings → Copilot → Custom instructions | Compliance, security requirements, company-wide policies |
🎯 Precedence: Personal → Repository → Organization, in that priority order. Personal instructions take the highest priority, so user settings override organization policy (see the official docs for details).
📦 Repository Level
Rules that apply to every teammate. The moment someone runs git clone, the project’s Copilot conventions are in place. Two file formats are available:
.github/copilot-instructions.md
🌍 Global
Scope: Entire repository
Loaded: Always active
Purpose: Tech stack, naming conventions, libraries to use/avoid, review standards
.github/instructions/*.instructions.md
🎯 Per-file (Path Instructions)
Scope: Only files matching the applyTo glob
Loaded: Auto-injected only when touching those targets
Purpose: Test-specific, language-specific, or area-specific rules (frontend / API / DB, etc.)
---
applyTo: "server/tests/test_*.py"
---
This file uses pytest functional tests.
- Load fixtures from `conftest.py`
- One assert per function
- Always mock LLM callsWhat happens inside the harness?
At session start, the harness loads the always-on instructions (.github/copilot-instructions.md) into context. When the user then asks to edit a file at a specific path, the harness loads any path-specific instructions whose applyTo glob matches that path.