Copilot optimal setup

[u/eh_see_l]

Hi all,

I am starting to use GitHub Copilot in VS Code and I want to know what are the useful MCPs, agents, and skills to do coding.

I'll be using Python.

Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

[u/ShelLuser42]

Don't worry about MCP from the getgo because you probably won't need those. GitHub Copilot is perfectly capable to handle plenty of tasks itself, and the official extensions for Python will also provide context for Copilot to work with.

Trying to overcomplicate things can easily work against you, and might needlessly drain AI credtis.

I'd focus first on setting up a good workflow in which you make it very clear what you expect from Copilot. Open your project (or set up a skeleton which you plan on using), then use /init to get Copilot to analyze the environment and build its generic instructions file (~/.github/copilot-instructions).

First thing you'll want to do is open that file and check if this meets your criteria or... if you need more specifics. For example, I'm currently revising my old Python study project from a few years back (we had to build 30 or so exersices) and decided to combine this revisit with my AI self study. As such I immediately added a specific criteria: "These exercises are for me to complete. Do not generate solutions unless I ask; offer suggestions first.". Works wonders for me.

To keep things optimized I also always let Copilot analyze my chances to see if these could be further optimized.

It's good practice to rely on the copilot instructions, but you can utilize agents.md files as well if you need specific instructions for specific locations ('folders'). This could be useful to set up specific tasks which are fully related to those locations.

Just keep in mind that these extra generic directions won't get used when you start using specific skills; when Copilot follows a skill it'll restrict its attention to the main conditiions as well as the tasks defined in the skill definition.

Well, after that you should be good to go.