instructions
Guidelines for writing high-quality custom instruction files for GitHub Copilot.
- Kind
- Rules
- Works with
- GitHub Copilot
- Source
- Awesome Copilot @ d85f762d6e52
- Path
- instructions/instructions.instructions.md
- License
- MIT
- Jobs
- Documentation
InstallCopy it from the source repository, or sign in and let the assistant adapt it for your project.
# Custom Instructions File Guidelines Instructions for creating effective and maintainable custom instruction files that guide GitHub Copilot in generating domain-specific code and following project conventions. ## Project Context - Target audience: Developers and GitHub Copilot working with domain-specific code - File format: Markdown with YAML frontmatter - File naming convention: lowercase with hyphens (e.g., `react-best-practices.instructions.md`) - Location: `.github/instructions/` directory - Purpose: Provide context-aware guidance for code generation, review, and documentation ## Required Frontmatter Every instruction file must include YAML frontmatter with the following fields: ```yaml --- description: 'Brief description of the instruction purpose and scope' applyTo: 'glob pattern for target files (e.g., **/*.ts, **/*.py)' --- ``` ### Frontmatter Guidelines - **description**: Single-quoted string, 1-500 characters, clearly stating the purpose - **applyTo**: Glob pattern(s) specifying which files these instructions apply to - Single pattern: `'**/*.ts'` - Multiple patterns: `'**/*.ts, **/*.tsx, **/*.js'` - Specific files: `'src/**/*.py'` - All files: `'**'` …