Copilot Prompts

Use these starters when Copilot is helping inside GitHub or an IDE and you want clearer review or customization outcomes.

Prompt Objective

Get stronger repo instructions, review prompts, and implementation summaries from Copilot surfaces.

When to Use

• customizing repo instructions
• reviewing a PR or selected changes
• drafting explanations for reviewers

Required Context

• diff or file selection
• repo instruction file if one exists
• validation commands

Prompt Starters

Review these changes for bugs, regressions, and missing tests. List findings first and keep the summary last.

Suggest repository custom instructions for build, test, validation, and risky directories based on the current repo layout.

Draft a PR summary from this diff using facts only. Include validation commands run and known limitations.

Variables to Customize

• PR scope
• instructions file path
• validation results

Example Filled Prompt

Suggest repository custom instructions for this docs repo.
Include build, validation, link-check, and no-local-path rules in concise Markdown.

Example Expected Output

• concise instructions block
• honest validation section

Weak Prompt Versus Strong Prompt

• Weak: write copilot instructions
• Strong: define repo conventions and required sections

Failure Patterns

• generic instructions with no repo-specific commands
• summaries that omit validation

Tool-Specific Adjustments

• give Copilot the current diff or the current instruction file explicitly

Human Review Checklist

• verify any generated instruction file against real repo commands

Security Considerations

Do not ask for instructions that normalize secret sharing or automatic deploy approval.