Track: Copilot Essentials¶
Target Audience: Teams just starting with GitHub Copilot Duration: 15 hours (5 sessions × 3 hrs) Difficulty: Beginner → Intermediate Recommended Delivery: 2 days (2 to 3 sessions per day)
Description¶
Start here if your team is new to Copilot. Set it up, try its core features, and practice writing prompts before using it in the terminal and IDE agent mode.
Prerequisites¶
- Working knowledge of at least one programming language
- GitHub account with Copilot access
- VS Code installed
- Basic Git proficiency
- Node.js 22 or later and standalone CLI authentication before Session M1-03's
/refineexercise - CLI commands and local sandbox support listed in Session M2-01's preflight
Sessions¶
| Order | Session ID | Title | Difficulty | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M1-01 | Introduction to GitHub Copilot | Beginner | 3 hrs |
| 2 | M1-02 | Copilot Chat & Inline Suggestions | Beginner | 3 hrs |
| 3 | M1-03 | Prompt Engineering Fundamentals | Beginner | 3 hrs |
| 4 | M2-01 | GitHub Copilot in the CLI | Intermediate | 3 hrs |
| 5 | M2-02 | Agent Mode in the IDE | Intermediate | 3 hrs |
Recommended delivery schedule¶
2-day intensive¶
| Day | Sessions | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Sessions M1-01, M1-02, M1-03 | Foundations: setup, Chat, prompting |
| Day 2 | Sessions M2-01, M2-02 | Surfaces: CLI and agent mode |
3-day relaxed¶
| Day | Sessions | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Sessions M1-01, M1-02 | Setup and Chat workflows |
| Day 2 | Session M1-03 | Prompt engineering practice |
| Day 3 | Sessions M2-01, M2-02 | CLI and agent mode |
Learning outcomes¶
After this track, you should be able to:
- Install, configure, and use GitHub Copilot in the IDE and CLI
- Use Copilot Chat, inline suggestions, and Next Edit Suggestions in daily workflows
- Write clear prompts and check Copilot's output for accuracy and usefulness
- Use standalone
copilotin the terminal for command explanation and generation - Use agent mode for multi-step, multi-file coding tasks
- Explain Copilot's capabilities and limitations to your team
Next steps¶
- Developer Productivity. Add code review and Spaces to daily development
- Agentic Development. Learn autonomous workflows, MCP, and custom agents
- DevOps & Automation. Apply Copilot to CI/CD, Actions, and infrastructure