Support for different types of custom instructions

Find out which environments support which types of custom instructions.

In this article

This reference article provides details of which types of custom instructions are supported in various environments. For more information about the various types of custom instructions for GitHub Copilot, see About customizing GitHub Copilot responses.

GitHub.com

Copilot feature Types of custom instructions supported
Copilot Chat
  •  Personal instructions.
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Organization instructions.
Copilot cloud agent
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md or GEMINI.md files).
  •  Organization instructions.
Copilot code review
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Organization instructions.

Visual Studio Code

Copilot feature Types of custom instructions supported
Copilot Chat
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using an AGENTS.md file).
Copilot cloud agent
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md or GEMINI.md files).
Copilot code review
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).

Visual Studio

Copilot feature Types of custom instructions supported
Copilot Chat
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
Copilot code review
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).

JetBrains IDEs

In JetBrains IDEs, you can manage supported customizations from the Agent Customizations editor. In the GitHub Copilot Chat panel, click the settings icon in the top-right, then click Customizations.

The editor lets you work with workspace customizations for the current project or personal customizations that follow you across projects. You can use it to view and edit custom agents, manage reusable skills and prompt files, and configure instructions. For more information, see Adding repository custom instructions for GitHub Copilot in your IDE and Creating custom agents for Copilot cloud agent in your IDE.

Copilot feature Types of custom instructions supported
Copilot Chat
  •  Personal instructions.
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
Copilot cloud agent
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md or GEMINI.md files).
Copilot code review
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).

Eclipse

Copilot feature Types of custom instructions supported
Copilot Chat
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
Copilot cloud agent
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md or GEMINI.md files).
Copilot code review
  • Custom instructions are currently not supported.

Xcode

Copilot feature Types of custom instructions supported
Copilot Chat
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
Copilot cloud agent
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md or GEMINI.md files).
Copilot code review
  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).

Copilot CLI

  •  Repository-wide instructions (using the .github/copilot-instructions.md file).
  •  Path-specific instructions (using .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md files).
  •  Agent instructions (using an AGENTS.md file).

Further reading