Welcome to the GitHub Copilot SDK docs. Whether you're building your first Copilot-powered app or deploying to production, you'll find what you need here.
| I want to... | Go to |
|---|---|
| Build my first app | Getting Started — end-to-end tutorial with streaming & custom tools |
| Set up for production | Setup Guides — architecture, deployment patterns, scaling |
| Configure authentication | Authentication — GitHub OAuth, environment variables, BYOK |
| Add features to my app | Features — hooks, custom agents, MCP, skills, and more |
| Debug an issue | Troubleshooting — common problems and solutions |
Step-by-step tutorial that takes you from zero to a working Copilot app with streaming responses and custom tools.
How to configure and deploy the SDK for your use case.
- Local CLI — simplest path, uses your signed-in CLI
- Bundled CLI — ship the CLI with your app
- Backend Services — server-side with headless CLI over TCP
- GitHub OAuth — implement the OAuth flow
- Azure Managed Identity — BYOK with Azure AI Foundry
- Scaling & Multi-Tenancy — horizontal scaling, isolation patterns
Configuring how users and services authenticate with Copilot.
- Authentication Overview — methods, priority order, and examples
- Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) — use your own API keys from OpenAI, Azure, Anthropic, and more
Guides for building with the SDK's capabilities.
- Hooks — intercept and customize session behavior
- Custom Agents — define specialized sub-agents
- MCP Servers — integrate Model Context Protocol servers
- Skills — load reusable prompt modules
- Image Input — send images as attachments
- Streaming Events — real-time event reference
- Steering & Queueing — message delivery modes
- Session Persistence — resume sessions across restarts
Detailed API reference for each session hook.
- Pre-Tool Use — approve, deny, or modify tool calls
- Post-Tool Use — transform tool results
- User Prompt Submitted — modify or filter user messages
- Session Lifecycle — session start and end
- Error Handling — custom error handling
- Debugging Guide — common issues and solutions
- MCP Debugging — MCP-specific troubleshooting
- Compatibility — SDK vs CLI feature matrix
- OpenTelemetry Instrumentation — add tracing to your SDK usage
Guides for using the SDK with other platforms and frameworks.
- Microsoft Agent Framework — MAF multi-agent workflows