How to set up GitHub Copilot for SpecDD

How-To Set up your agent Beginner 1021002HOWTO-1021002

HOWTO-1021002Set up your agentBeginner

This guide shows you how to set up GitHub Copilot for SpecDD so Copilot cloud agent or Copilot agent mode can work from local .sdd contracts.

GitHub CLI installs SpecDD skills one at a time for Copilot. The documented alternative is the universal Agent Skills package.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

GitHub Copilot with an agent workflow that can use installed skills
GitHub CLI available
a project initialized with SpecDD

Steps

1. Check the SpecDD project files

In the repository root, confirm that these files exist:

AGENTS.md
.specdd/
  bootstrap.md
  bootstrap.project.md

If the project is not initialized yet, run:

specdd init

2. Choose the skills to install

Start with specdd-orient so Copilot can inspect a SpecDD project before work starts.

Common next skills are:

specdd-plan for planning under specs
specdd-do for implementation under local authority
specdd-review for reviewing diffs against specs
specdd-test for deriving focused tests
specdd-task for managing Tasks

The available skill IDs are:

specdd-adopt
specdd-author
specdd-cli
specdd-debug
specdd-do
specdd-docs
specdd-explain
specdd-orient
specdd-plan
specdd-refactor
specdd-review
specdd-risk
specdd-task
specdd-test
specdd-trace

3. Install each skill with GitHub CLI

Source and install details: github.com/specdd/plugin-copilot

Install one skill at a time:

gh skill install specdd/plugin-copilot specdd-orient

Repeat the command with the other skill IDs you want to use.

4. Use universal Agent Skills instead

The SpecDD tools reference also documents universal Agent Skills as an alternative installation method for GitHub Copilot.

Install project-local Agent Skills:

specdd agentskills deploy

Install into another project directory:

specdd agentskills deploy path/to/project

Install user-level Agent Skills:

specdd agentskills deploy --user

For manual installation, clone the universal Agent Skills package and copy the specdd-* skill directories into the skills directory your Copilot setup reads.

Use one install path deliberately. If you install both Copilot-specific skills and universal Agent Skills, verify which set Copilot is loading.

5. Verify Copilot can use SpecDD skills

Use a small request:

Orient in this SpecDD project.

Then try a spec explanation request:

Explain the Itinerary spec.

Copilot should describe the relevant SpecDD context instead of treating the request as a generic repository summary.

6. Use focused Copilot requests

Good task prompts name the work:

Plan the Itinerary validation change.

Review this change against the Itinerary spec.

Keep setup and workflow instructions in project files and installed skills. Keep prompts about the task.

Common mistakes

Installing only one skill, then expecting every SpecDD workflow to be available.
Running gh skill install against the wrong plugin repository.
Installing both Copilot-specific skills and universal Agent Skills without checking which path Copilot uses.
Testing in a repository that has no SpecDD bootstrap files.

How to verify the result

GitHub Copilot is ready for SpecDD when:

the desired skill IDs have been installed
the repository has AGENTS.md and .specdd/bootstrap.md
orientation and explanation requests produce SpecDD-specific output
implementation plans mention local authority and verification

Tools

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