Working with projects in the GitHub Copilot app

Projects in the GitHub Copilot app are in public preview and subject to change.

About projects

A project brings together related work with Copilot over time. Give Copilot a goal, and it coordinates the work. Projects can span one or more repositories or focus on tasks that don't require a repository. Depending on the task, this can involve starting sessions, setting up recurring automations, or creating artifacts.

For example, you could use a project to investigate customer feedback and decide what to improve, or track urgent work and in-progress tasks across repositories. You can follow progress, provide direction, and return to the project as the work evolves.

To tackle a task in a specific repository, you can start a session directly from that repository. Use a project when you want Copilot to coordinate work toward a broader goal.

Creating a project and assigning work

Give each project a focused goal so you can keep related tasks and results together.

1. In the sidebar of the GitHub Copilot app, next to Projects, click . The New project page opens.

2. Optionally, choose repositories for the project to use. Under Which repositories should this Project use?, select suggested repositories or search by repository owner and name, then click Add repositories. You can start a project without adding a repository.

3. In the prompt box, describe what you want to use the project for and the initial tasks you want Copilot to carry out. Include the results you want and any constraints. For example, to investigate customer feedback about a feature:

   Copilot prompt

   I want to use this project to investigate customer
   feedback about our new search feature and decide
   what to improve.
   
   First, review the feedback document in this project's
   library. Group the feedback by theme and summarize
   the main problems customers describe.
   For each theme, include supporting examples from the
   document and suggest questions we should investigate.
   Use only the provided feedback. Do not make code changes.
   

4. Optionally, add supporting material before sending the prompt. Click the Library tab at the top of the right-hand panel, click Add, then choose Add file… or Add folder… and select a file or folder.

5. Send the prompt to start the work.

Copilot coordinates the work toward your goal. You can follow overall progress in the project rather than directing each session separately.

Tracking and steering work

Click Overview at the top of the right-hand panel to review the project's work, grouped by status:

• Needs input: Decisions, reviews, and permission requests that need your attention.
• Open: Work with an open pull request. Each item shows the session's status, the associated pull request, and the number of lines added and deleted.
• Working: Sessions currently working.
• Done: Completed work.

Review items under Needs input to see where your response is needed.

To inspect an individual session, click the session in the Overview tab. You can review the conversation, changes, pull request, and plan, or send a message in Steer this session to give further direction.

Continue the work by giving Copilot a follow-up task. For example, after reviewing the feedback summary:

Compare the two most common feedback themes. Recommend
which one to investigate first and explain your reasoning.
Identify any gaps in the feedback that could change
the recommendation.

Compare the two most common feedback themes. Recommend
which one to investigate first and explain your reasoning.
Identify any gaps in the feedback that could change
the recommendation.

Return to the same project when you want to continue working on the goal. For example, you can add a new batch of feedback and ask Copilot to compare it with previous findings.

For information about working directly in an individual session, see Working with agent sessions in the GitHub Copilot app.

Sharing context and reviewing artifacts

Use Library to share supporting material with Copilot and find artifacts it has created during sessions for the project. Keep material relevant to the project's goal, and tell Copilot which sources to use when assigning a task.

Click the Library tab at the top of the right-hand panel, then click a file to open it. Under All Files, Agent contains generated artifacts and User contains material you added. To add supporting material, click Add, then choose Add file… or Add folder….

For example, if you were investigating customer feedback about a new feature, you could add the feature specification and a document containing customer feedback to Library. You could then ask Copilot to use the specification to understand how the feature is intended to work and the feedback to identify problems customers encounter.

Setting up recurring work

To set up recurring work, ask Copilot in the project's conversation. Describe the task and when you want it to run.

1. In the project's prompt box, describe the recurring task, including its schedule and expected result. For example, if you add customer feedback to the project's Library throughout the week, ask for a summary every Monday:

   Copilot prompt

   Every Monday at 9 AM in my local time zone, review the
   customer feedback in this project's library and create
   a summary grouped by theme. Include supporting examples
   and questions we should investigate.
   Use only the provided material.
   

2. Send the prompt and respond to any questions from Copilot about the task or schedule.

3. Click Automations at the top of the right-hand panel to check the task's schedule and next run time.

To change a recurring task, ask Copilot in the project's conversation. For example: "Update the weekly feedback summary to focus on search performance and run every Friday at 10 AM."

You can also edit the schedule manually, pause the task, or delete it from the Automations tab. Next to the task, click :

• Click Pause to stop the task from running until you resume it.
• Click Edit schedule… to change when the task runs.
• Click Delete… to remove the recurring task.

For information about creating scheduled tasks from the app's standalone automations page, see Using automations in the GitHub Copilot app.