personalize-cloud-sessions.md

title	Personalizing your cloud sessions
shortTitle	Personalize cloud sessions
intro	Bring your personal instructions, skills, and custom agents to your sessions with {% data variables.copilot.copilot_in_the_cloud_short %} using a dotfiles repository.
versions	feature copilot
contentType	how-tos
category	Configure Copilot Author and optimize with Copilot

About personalizing cloud sessions

You can use a dotfiles repository to give {% data variables.copilot.copilot_in_the_cloud_short %} your preferred instructions, reusable skills, and specialized agents across repositories. You can also use personal custom instructions to apply to every conversation you have on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %} and {% data variables.product.prodname_mobile %}. These personal customizations apply to your sessions, rather than configuring a repository for everyone who works in it.

Dotfiles personalization works only in cloud sandboxes. It does not apply to sessions that run on {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}.

{% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} uses the same dotfiles setting as {% data variables.product.prodname_github_codespaces %}. You can configure it in either your personal {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} > Cloud settings or your {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} settings. You do not need to create a codespace to use dotfiles with {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %}.

Personal custom instructions apply to every conversation you have with {% data variables.copilot.copilot_in_the_cloud_short %}, so {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} always responds in your preferred language, tone, and style.

Examples of custom instructions you can add:

• Always respond in Spanish.
• Use a helpful, collegial tone. Keep explanations brief, but provide enough context to understand the code.
• Always provide examples in TypeScript.

{% data reusables.copilot.custom-instructions-chat-precedence %}

{% data reusables.copilot.custom-instructions-conflict %}

Preparing your dotfiles repository

Your dotfiles repository must contain a .copilot directory at its root. If this directory is not present, {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} does not install the repository's dotfiles.

Add the personal customizations you want to use to this directory. For example:

.copilot/
  copilot-instructions.md
  skills/
    release-notes/
      SKILL.md
  agents/
    reviewer.agent.md

These files use the same formats and home-directory locations as personal customizations for {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli %}. Use the following guides to write their contents:

Customization	Location in your dotfiles repository	Guidance
Personal instructions	.copilot/copilot-instructions.md	Write guidance to apply across repositories, such as your preferred coding conventions or response style. See AUTOTITLE.
Personal skills	.copilot/skills/SKILL-NAME/SKILL.md	Define repeatable workflows with instructions, scripts, and resources. See AUTOTITLE.
Personal custom agents	.copilot/agents/AGENT-NAME.agent.md	Define specialist agents with their own instructions and tools. See AUTOTITLE.

Replace SKILL-NAME and AGENT-NAME with descriptive names for your skill and agent. The linked guides also describe CLI-specific commands, which are not required to set up your dotfiles repository.

Do not commit secrets or credentials to your dotfiles repository.

Enabling dotfiles for your cloud sessions

1. Create a dotfiles repository that you own on {% data variables.product.github %}, or use an existing one.

2. Add a .copilot directory at the root of the repository, with your personal customization files as described above.

3. Commit and push your changes to the repository.

4. In your personal {% data variables.product.github %} settings, under {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %}, click Cloud. Enable dotfiles and select your repository.

   Alternatively, configure dotfiles in your {% data variables.product.prodname_codespaces %} settings. Both settings pages share the same selection, so changing it also changes the dotfiles repository used for your codespaces.

5. Start a session in a cloud sandbox, or resume an existing cloud sandbox session. Where you can choose an environment, select Cloud, not Actions. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

When the cloud sandbox is created or resumed, {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} copies the contents of your dotfiles repository into the sandbox's home directory, making your personal customizations available under ~/.copilot.

How dotfiles are applied

If your dotfiles repository contains a root .copilot directory, {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} copies the entire repository's contents, not just .copilot.

Unlike {% data variables.product.prodname_github_codespaces %}, {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} does not run dotfiles installation scripts such as install.sh or bootstrap.sh. Include your customization files directly in the repository rather than relying on a script to create them.

Changes to your dotfiles repository take effect the next time a cloud sandbox is created or resumed. They are not applied to a sandbox while it is running.

Adding personal custom instructions

To add personal custom instructions for {% data variables.copilot.copilot_in_the_cloud_short %} on {% data variables.product.github %}:

1. Open a {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} session.

2. In the bottom left menu, click {% octicon "gear" aria-label="The Gear icon" %}.

3. Add natural language instructions to the text box.

   Use any format. For example, a single block of text, each instruction on a new line, or instructions separated by blank lines.

4. Click Save.

Your instructions are now active and remain active until you change or remove them.

For a curated collection of examples of personal custom instructions, see AUTOTITLE.

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