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GitHub Copilot CLI

AI-powered coding agent in your terminal by GitHub

Homepage Repository
Development Productivity linuxmacoswindows Shell Proprietary

Description

GitHub Copilot CLI brings the power of Copilot directly to your terminal. It is an autonomous coding agent that can plan complex tasks, execute multi-step workflows, edit files, run tests, and iterate — all through natural language conversations. Deeply integrated with GitHub for repositories, issues, and pull requests. Supports MCP servers for extensibility and multiple AI models.

Install

homebrewbrew install copilot-cli
npmnpm install -g @github/copilot
shellcurl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | bash
wingetwinget install GitHub.Copilot

AI Summary

GitHub's terminal-native AI coding agent — plans, builds, reviews, and iterates on code through natural language, with deep GitHub integration.

Capabilities

  • + Autonomous multi-step coding tasks from natural language
  • + Plan and execute complex workflows (edit, test, iterate)
  • + Deep GitHub integration (repos, issues, PRs)
  • + MCP server support for extensibility
  • + Multiple model support (Claude Sonnet, GPT-4, etc.)
  • + Preview changes before execution
  • + LSP integration for code intelligence

Use When

  • → You want an AI coding agent in the terminal
  • → You need to plan, build, and debug code with AI assistance
  • → You work heavily with GitHub repos, issues, and PRs
  • → You want agentic multi-step task execution

Avoid When

  • x You don't have a GitHub Copilot subscription
  • x You need offline-only operation

Usage Patterns

Start a conversation

copilot

Launch the interactive agent in your terminal

Ask a coding question

copilot "refactor this function to use async/await"

Provide a natural language prompt directly

Input / Output

stdin: Interactive terminal input
stdout: Conversational responses, code edits, and command output

Typical Pipelines

copilot → edit files → run tests → commit

Related Tools

aider alternative

Open-source AI pair programming tool
cli-co-pilot complementary

Earlier GPT-4 based CLI command translator
View AGENTS.md for GitHub Copilot CLI