Let's Create a GitHub Copilot Extension!

certificate
Recording and certification are available to Multipass and Full ticket holders only
Please login if you have one.
Bookmark
Rate this content

In this workshop, you'll learn how to create a GitHub Copilot Extension. We'll explore GitHub's new AI-powered tool ecosystem and guide you through building your own extension from scratch. By the end of this session, you'll understand how to leverage Copilot Extensions to enhance your development workflow and integrate with third-party services.

In This Workshop, You'll Discover:

  • What GitHub Copilot is and its capabilities
  • What GitHub Copilot Extensions are
  • The anatomy of a Copilot Extension
  • How to build your own Copilot Extension

Hands-on Development:

  • Clone the template repository: nickytonline/copilot-extension-template
  • Install dependencies
  • Expose your local development server
  • Create and configure your GitHub Application
  • Use the Copilot Extensions Preview SDK
  • Debug and test your extension

By the end of this workshop, you'll have created a working GitHub Copilot Extension that you can use immediately in your development environment. You'll be able to extend this foundation to build more complex integrations and custom AI-powered tools tailored to your specific needs.

This workshop is ideal for:

  • Developers looking to enhance their productivity with AI tools
  • Teams wanting to build custom integrations with GitHub Copilot
  • Anyone interested in creating AI-powered developer tools

This workshop has been presented at JSNation 2025, check out the latest edition of this JavaScript Conference.

FAQ

GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant and pair programming buddy that can perform inline code completions and has chat capabilities. It can be extended by GitHub Copilot extensions.

There are two types of GitHub Copilot extensions: skill set and agent. The skill set connects third-party services and custom APIs, while the agent allows complete control over request and response generation and enables custom workflows.

To create a GitHub Copilot extension, you need a publicly accessible web application or endpoint and a registered GitHub application. You configure the GitHub app for Copilot use and set minimal permissions.

GitHub Copilot extensions can be used anywhere GitHub Copilot is available, such as in Visual Studio Code, GitHub.com, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Vim, NeoVim, and even on the command line.

A GitHub app is essential for Copilot extensions as it provides authentication and authorization for accessing Copilot chat and editor context. It must be configured with the necessary permissions for the extension to function.

To use a GitHub Copilot extension, you need to give read-only access to Copilot chat and optionally, read-only access to editor context if you want to read files or have editor context.

Yes, GitHub Copilot extensions can work with any editor that leverages the Copilot language server SDK, including Microsoft development environments like GitHub.com, Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Code.

The Copilot extension preview SDK simplifies the process of building a Copilot extension as an agent. It provides security and response formatting utilities, handling request payload verification, parsing, and response building.

To run a GitHub Copilot extension locally, you need a Node.js environment, a public-facing endpoint, and the necessary GitHub app configuration with the appropriate permissions.

Nick Taylor
Nick Taylor
86 min
20 Jun, 2025

Comments

Sign in or register to post your comment.
Video Summary and Transcription
Introduction to GitHub Copilot extension workshop covering basics, extension anatomy, SDK usage, setup, and Q&A. Exploring Copilot extensions functionality, setup requirements, and permissions. Preparation of development environment, managing Copilot extensions locally, configuring GitHub app and permissions, troubleshooting configuration and authorization issues, creating and demonstrating advanced Copilot extension features, interacting with UI components, and exploring deployment options and future prospects.
Video transcription and chapters available for users with access.

Watch more workshops on topic

AI on Demand: Serverless AI
DevOps.js Conf 2024DevOps.js Conf 2024
163 min
AI on Demand: Serverless AI
Top Content
Featured WorkshopFree
Nathan Disidore
Nathan Disidore
In this workshop, we discuss the merits of serverless architecture and how it can be applied to the AI space. We'll explore options around building serverless RAG applications for a more lambda-esque approach to AI. Next, we'll get hands on and build a sample CRUD app that allows you to store information and query it using an LLM with Workers AI, Vectorize, D1, and Cloudflare Workers.
AI for React Developers
React Advanced 2024React Advanced 2024
142 min
AI for React Developers
Top Content
Featured Workshop
Eve Porcello
Eve Porcello
Knowledge of AI tooling is critical for future-proofing the careers of React developers, and the Vercel suite of AI tools is an approachable on-ramp. In this course, we’ll take a closer look at the Vercel AI SDK and how this can help React developers build streaming interfaces with JavaScript and Next.js. We’ll also incorporate additional 3rd party APIs to build and deploy a music visualization app.
Topics:- Creating a React Project with Next.js- Choosing a LLM- Customizing Streaming Interfaces- Building Routes- Creating and Generating Components - Using Hooks (useChat, useCompletion, useActions, etc)
Building Full Stack Apps With Cursor
JSNation 2025JSNation 2025
46 min
Building Full Stack Apps With Cursor
Featured Workshop
Mike Mikula
Mike Mikula
In this workshop I’ll cover a repeatable process on how to spin up full stack apps in Cursor.  Expect to understand techniques such as using GPT to create product requirements, database schemas, roadmaps and using those in notes to generate checklists to guide app development.  We will dive further in on how to fix hallucinations/ errors that occur, useful prompts to make your app look and feel modern, approaches to get every layer wired up and more!  By the end expect to be able to run your own AI generated full stack app on your machine!
Please, find the FAQ here
Vibe coding with Cline
JSNation 2025JSNation 2025
64 min
Vibe coding with Cline
Featured Workshop
Nik Pash
Nik Pash
The way we write code is fundamentally changing. Instead of getting stuck in nested loops and implementation details, imagine focusing purely on architecture and creative problem-solving while your AI pair programmer handles the execution. In this hands-on workshop, I'll show you how to leverage Cline (an autonomous coding agent that recently hit 1M VS Code downloads) to dramatically accelerate your development workflow through a practice we call "vibe coding" - where humans focus on high-level thinking and AI handles the implementation.You'll discover:The fundamental principles of "vibe coding" and how it differs from traditional developmentHow to architect solutions at a high level and have AI implement them accuratelyLive demo: Building a production-grade caching system in Go that saved us $500/weekTechniques for using AI to understand complex codebases in minutes instead of hoursBest practices for prompting AI agents to get exactly the code you wantCommon pitfalls to avoid when working with AI coding assistantsStrategies for using AI to accelerate learning and reduce dependency on senior engineersHow to effectively combine human creativity with AI implementation capabilitiesWhether you're a junior developer looking to accelerate your learning or a senior engineer wanting to optimize your workflow, you'll leave this workshop with practical experience in AI-assisted development that you can immediately apply to your projects. Through live coding demos and hands-on exercises, you'll learn how to leverage Cline to write better code faster while focusing on what matters - solving real problems.
Free webinar: Building Full Stack Apps With Cursor
Productivity Conf for Devs and Tech LeadersProductivity Conf for Devs and Tech Leaders
71 min
Free webinar: Building Full Stack Apps With Cursor
Top Content
WorkshopFree
Mike Mikula
Mike Mikula
In this webinar I’ll cover a repeatable process on how to spin up full stack apps in Cursor.  Expect to understand techniques such as using GPT to create product requirements, database schemas, roadmaps and using those in notes to generate checklists to guide app development.  We will dive further in on how to fix hallucinations/ errors that occur, useful prompts to make your app look and feel modern, approaches to get every layer wired up and more!  By the end expect to be able to run your own ai generated full stack app on your machine!
Working With OpenAI and Prompt Engineering for React Developers
React Advanced 2023React Advanced 2023
98 min
Working With OpenAI and Prompt Engineering for React Developers
Top Content
Workshop
Richard Moss
Richard Moss
In this workshop we'll take a tour of applied AI from the perspective of front end developers, zooming in on the emerging best practices when it comes to working with LLMs to build great products. This workshop is based on learnings from working with the OpenAI API from its debut last November to build out a working MVP which became PowerModeAI (A customer facing ideation and slide creation tool).
In the workshop they'll be a mix of presentation and hands on exercises to cover topics including:
- GPT fundamentals- Pitfalls of LLMs- Prompt engineering best practices and techniques- Using the playground effectively- Installing and configuring the OpenAI SDK- Approaches to working with the API and prompt management- Implementing the API to build an AI powered customer facing application- Fine tuning and embeddings- Emerging best practice on LLMOps

Check out more articles and videos

We constantly think of articles and videos that might spark Git people interest / skill us up or help building a stellar career

Building a Voice-Enabled AI Assistant With Javascript
JSNation 2023JSNation 2023
21 min
Building a Voice-Enabled AI Assistant With Javascript
Top Content
This Talk discusses building a voice-activated AI assistant using web APIs and JavaScript. It covers using the Web Speech API for speech recognition and the speech synthesis API for text to speech. The speaker demonstrates how to communicate with the Open AI API and handle the response. The Talk also explores enabling speech recognition and addressing the user. The speaker concludes by mentioning the possibility of creating a product out of the project and using Tauri for native desktop-like experiences.
The Ai-Assisted Developer Workflow: Build Faster and Smarter Today
JSNation US 2024JSNation US 2024
31 min
The Ai-Assisted Developer Workflow: Build Faster and Smarter Today
Top Content
AI is transforming software engineering by using agents to help with coding. Agents can autonomously complete tasks and make decisions based on data. Collaborative AI and automation are opening new possibilities in code generation. Bolt is a powerful tool for troubleshooting, bug fixing, and authentication. Code generation tools like Copilot and Cursor provide support for selecting models and codebase awareness. Cline is a useful extension for website inspection and testing. Guidelines for coding with agents include defining requirements, choosing the right model, and frequent testing. Clear and concise instructions are crucial in AI-generated code. Experienced engineers are still necessary in understanding architecture and problem-solving. Energy consumption insights and sustainability are discussed in the Talk.
AI and Web Development: Hype or Reality
JSNation 2023JSNation 2023
24 min
AI and Web Development: Hype or Reality
Top Content
This talk explores the use of AI in web development, including tools like GitHub Copilot and Fig for CLI commands. AI can generate boilerplate code, provide context-aware solutions, and generate dummy data. It can also assist with CSS selectors and regexes, and be integrated into applications. AI is used to enhance the podcast experience by transcribing episodes and providing JSON data. The talk also discusses formatting AI output, crafting requests, and analyzing embeddings for similarity.
The Rise of the AI Engineer
React Summit US 2023React Summit US 2023
30 min
The Rise of the AI Engineer
Top Content
Watch video: The Rise of the AI Engineer
The rise of AI engineers is driven by the demand for AI and the emergence of ML research and engineering organizations. Start-ups are leveraging AI through APIs, resulting in a time-to-market advantage. The future of AI engineering holds promising results, with a focus on AI UX and the role of AI agents. Equity in AI and the central problems of AI engineering require collective efforts to address. The day-to-day life of an AI engineer involves working on products or infrastructure and dealing with specialties and tools specific to the field.
Web Apps of the Future With Web AI
JSNation 2024JSNation 2024
32 min
Web Apps of the Future With Web AI
Web AI in JavaScript allows for running machine learning models client-side in a web browser, offering advantages such as privacy, offline capabilities, low latency, and cost savings. Various AI models can be used for tasks like background blur, text toxicity detection, 3D data extraction, face mesh recognition, hand tracking, pose detection, and body segmentation. JavaScript libraries like MediaPipe LLM inference API and Visual Blocks facilitate the use of AI models. Web AI is in its early stages but has the potential to revolutionize web experiences and improve accessibility.
Code coverage with AI
TestJS Summit 2023TestJS Summit 2023
8 min
Code coverage with AI
Premium
Codium is a generative AI assistant for software development that offers code explanation, test generation, and collaboration features. It can generate tests for a GraphQL API in VS Code, improve code coverage, and even document tests. Codium allows analyzing specific code lines, generating tests based on existing ones, and answering code-related questions. It can also provide suggestions for code improvement, help with code refactoring, and assist with writing commit messages.