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copilot-sdk

Build applications that programmatically interact with GitHub Copilot. The SDK wraps the Copilot CLI via JSON-RPC, providing session management, custom tools, hooks, MCP server integration, and streaming across Node.js, Python, Go, and .NET.

Documentation

GitHub Copilot SDK

Build applications that programmatically interact with GitHub Copilot. The SDK wraps the Copilot CLI via JSON-RPC, providing session management, custom tools, hooks, MCP server integration, and streaming across Node.js, Python, Go, and .NET.

Prerequisites

  • GitHub Copilot CLI installed and authenticated (copilot --version to verify)
  • GitHub Copilot subscription (Individual, Business, or Enterprise) — not required for BYOK
  • Runtime: Node.js 18+ / Python 3.8+ / Go 1.21+ / .NET 8.0+

Installation

LanguagePackageInstall
Node.js@github/copilot-sdknpm install @github/copilot-sdk
Pythongithub-copilot-sdkpip install github-copilot-sdk
Gogithub.com/github/copilot-sdk/gogo get github.com/github/copilot-sdk/go
.NETGitHub.Copilot.SDKdotnet add package GitHub.Copilot.SDK

Core Pattern: Client → Session → Message

All SDK usage follows this pattern: create a client, create a session, send messages.

Node.js / TypeScript

import { CopilotClient } from "@github/copilot-sdk";

const client = new CopilotClient();
const session = await client.createSession({ model: "gpt-4.1" });

const response = await session.sendAndWait({ prompt: "What is 2 + 2?" });
console.log(response?.data.content);

await client.stop();

Python

import asyncio
from copilot import CopilotClient

async def main():
    client = CopilotClient()
    await client.start()
    session = await client.create_session({"model": "gpt-4.1"})
    response = await session.send_and_wait({"prompt": "What is 2 + 2?"})
    print(response.data.content)
    await client.stop()

asyncio.run(main())

Go

client := copilot.NewClient(nil)
if err := client.Start(ctx); err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
defer client.Stop()

session, _ := client.CreateSession(ctx, &copilot.SessionConfig{Model: "gpt-4.1"})
response, _ := session.SendAndWait(ctx, copilot.MessageOptions{Prompt: "What is 2 + 2?"})
fmt.Println(*response.Data.Content)

.NET

await using var client = new CopilotClient();
await using var session = await client.CreateSessionAsync(new SessionConfig { Model = "gpt-4.1" });
var response = await session.SendAndWaitAsync(new MessageOptions { Prompt = "What is 2 + 2?" });
Console.WriteLine(response?.Data.Content);

Streaming Responses

Enable real-time output by setting streaming: true and subscribing to delta events.

const session = await client.createSession({ model: "gpt-4.1", streaming: true });

session.on("assistant.message_delta", (event) => {
    process.stdout.write(event.data.deltaContent);
});
session.on("session.idle", () => console.log());

await session.sendAndWait({ prompt: "Tell me a joke" });

Python equivalent:

from copilot.generated.session_events import SessionEventType

session = await client.create_session({"model": "gpt-4.1", "streaming": True})

def handle_event(event):
    if event.type == SessionEventType.ASSISTANT_MESSAGE_DELTA:
        sys.stdout.write(event.data.delta_content)
        sys.stdout.flush()

session.on(handle_event)
await session.send_and_wait({"prompt": "Tell me a joke"})

Event Subscription

MethodDescription
on(handler)Subscribe to all events; returns unsubscribe function
on(eventType, handler)Subscribe to specific event type (Node.js only)

Custom Tools

Define tools that Copilot can call to extend its capabilities.

Node.js

import { CopilotClient, defineTool } from "@github/copilot-sdk";

const getWeather = defineTool("get_weather", {
    description: "Get the current weather for a city",
    parameters: {
        type: "object",
        properties: { city: { type: "string", description: "The city name" } },
        required: ["city"],
    },
    handler: async ({ city }) => ({ city, temperature: "72°F", condition: "sunny" }),
});

const session = await client.createSession({
    model: "gpt-4.1",
    tools: [getWeather],
});

Python

from copilot.tools import define_tool
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

class GetWeatherParams(BaseModel):
    city: str = Field(description="The city name")

@define_tool(description="Get the current weather for a city")
async def get_weather(params: GetWeatherParams) -> dict:
    return {"city": params.city, "temperature": "72°F", "condition": "sunny"}

session = await client.create_session({"model": "gpt-4.1", "tools": [get_weather]})

Go

type WeatherParams struct {
    City string `json:"city" jsonschema:"The city name"`
}

getWeather := copilot.DefineTool("get_weather", "Get weather for a city",
    func(params WeatherParams, inv copilot.ToolInvocation) (WeatherResult, error) {
        return WeatherResult{City: params.City, Temperature: "72°F"}, nil
    },
)

session, _ := client.CreateSession(ctx, &copilot.Session