Skillset Example

Note

Copilot Extensions are in public preview and may be subject to change. Pre-release terms apply. You must have a GitHub Copilot license of any type to use Copilot Extensions.

Description

This code sample demonstrates building a Copilot Extension using the skillsets approach rather than a traditional agent. This extension is designed to generate random test and example data for a number of development purposes, by calling publicly available APIs.

Architectural Model

• Skillsets: Define up to 5 API endpoints that Copilot can call directly. Copilot handles all AI interactions, prompt engineering, and response formatting.
• Agents: Provide full control over the interaction flow, including custom prompt crafting and specific LLM model selection.

When to Choose Skillsets

Skillsets are ideal when you want to:

• Quickly integrate existing APIs or services without managing AI logic
• Focus purely on your service's core functionality
• Maintain consistent Copilot-style interactions without extensive development
• Get started with minimal infrastructure and setup

Use agents instead if you need:

• Complex custom interaction flows
• Specific LLM model control (using LLMs that aren't provided by the Copilot API)
• Custom prompt crafting
• Advanced state management

Example Implementation

This extension showcases the skillset approach by providing three simple endpoints that generate random development data:

• Random commit messages
• Lorem ipsum text generation
• Random user data

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

git clone [email protected]:copilot-extensions/skillset-example.git
cd skillset-example

2. Install dependencies:

go mod tidy

Usage

1. Start up ngrok with the port provided:

ngrok http http://localhost:8080

2. Set the environment variables (use the ngrok generated url for the FDQN)
3. Run the application:

go run .

Accessing the Extension in Chat:

1. In the Copilot tab of your Application settings (https://github.com/settings/apps/<app_name>/agent)

• Set the app type to "Skillset"
• Specify the following skills

Name: random_commit_message
Inference description: Generates a random commit message
URL: https://<your ngrok domain>/random-commit-message
Parameters: { "type": "object" }
Return type: String
---
Name: random_lorem_ipsum 
Inference description: Generates a random Lorem Ipsum text.  Responses should have html tags present.
URL: https://<your ngrok domain>/random-lorem-ipsum
Parameters: 
{
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
      "number_of_paragraphs": {
         "type": "number",
         "description": "The number of paragraphs to be generated.  Must be between 1 and 10 inclusive"
      },
      "paragraph_length": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "The length of each paragraph.  Must be one of \"short\", \"medium\", \"long\", or \"verylong\""
      }
   }
}
Return type: String
---
Name: random_user
Inference description: Generates data for a random user
URL: https://<your ngrok domain>/random-user
Parameters: { "type": "object" }
Return type: String

2. In the General tab of your application settings (https://github.com/settings/apps/<app_name>)

• Set the Callback URL to anything (https://github.com works well for testing, in a real environment, this would be a URL you control)
• Set the Homepage URL to anything as above

3. Ensure your permissions are enabled in Permissions & events >

• Account Permissions > Copilot Chat > Access: Read Only

4. Ensure you install your application at (https://github.com/apps/<app_name>)
5. Now if you go to https://github.com/copilot you can @ your skillset extension using the name of your app.

What can the bot do?

Here's some example things:

• @skillset-example please create a random commit message
• @skillset-example generate a lorem ipsum
• @skillset-example generate a short lorem ipsum with 3 paragraphs
• @skillset-example generate random user data

Implementation

This bot provides a passthrough to a couple of other APIs:

• For commit messages, https://whatthecommit.com/
• For Lorem Ipsum, https://loripsum.net/
• For user data, https://randomuser.me/

Documentation

• Using Copilot Extensions
• About skillsets
• About building Copilot Extensions
• Set up process