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Plugin System Overview

Plugins are curated packages of related agents, skills, and commands organized around specific themes, workflows, or use cases. They make it easy to install comprehensive toolkits for particular development scenarios.

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What is a Plugin?

A plugin is a declarative package that bundles multiple GitHub Copilot resources:
  • Agents - Specialized GitHub Copilot agents with custom behaviors
  • Skills - Self-contained folders with instructions and bundled resources
  • Commands - Slash commands that trigger specific workflows (mapped from skills)
Plugins provide a convenient way to discover and adopt related customizations that work together for specific use cases.

Browse Plugins

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Create Plugin

Learn how to create your own plugin

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Plugin Structure

Each plugin is defined by a plugin.json manifest file located at .github/plugin/plugin.json within the plugin directory: 
{
  "name": "project-planning",
  "description": "Tools and guidance for software project planning, feature breakdown, epic management, implementation planning, and task organization for development teams.",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": {
    "name": "Awesome Copilot Community"
  },
  "repository": "https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot",
  "license": "MIT",
  "keywords": [
    "planning",
    "project-management",
    "epic",
    "feature",
    "implementation"
  ],
  "agents": [
    "./agents"
  ],
  "skills": [
    "./skills/breakdown-feature-implementation",
    "./skills/create-implementation-plan",
    "./skills/create-github-issues-feature-from-implementation-plan"
  ]
}

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Required Fields

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name
string
required
Plugin identifier matching the directory name (lowercase with hyphens)
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description
string
required
Clear description of the plugin’s purpose and capabilities
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version
string
required
Semantic version (e.g., “1.0.0”)

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Optional Fields

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author
object
Plugin author information with name field
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repository
string
URL to the source repository
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license
string
License identifier (e.g., “MIT”)
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keywords
array
Array of lowercase, hyphenated keywords for discoverability
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agents
array
Relative paths to agent files or directories containing agents
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skills
array
Relative paths to skill folders (each contains SKILL.md + bundled assets)

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Plugin Contents

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Agents

Agents are custom GitHub Copilot agents defined in .agent.md files with markdown frontmatter: 
---
name: Task Planner
description: 'Task planner for creating actionable implementation plans'
model: gpt-4o
tools:
  - read_file
  - search_files
---

You are an expert task planner specializing in breaking down complex features...
When referenced in plugin.json, agents can be:
  • A directory path (e.g., "./agents") - includes all .agent.md files in that directory
  • Individual file paths for selective inclusion

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Skills

Skills are self-contained folders with a SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources: 
skills/
  typescript-mcp-server-generator/
    SKILL.md              # Skill instructions with frontmatter
    template/             # Bundled templates
      package.json
      tsconfig.json
    docs/                 # Reference documentation
      mcp-spec.md
Skills appear as slash commands in the GitHub Copilot interface:
  • Skill folder name becomes the command name
  • Command format: /plugin-name:skill-name
  • Example: /typescript-mcp-development:typescript-mcp-server-generator

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Commands

Commands are automatically generated from skills. Each skill becomes a callable slash command that users can invoke in the chat interface.

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Installation

Plugins are installed using the GitHub Copilot CLI:
1

Install via CLI

Use the copilot plugin install command with the plugin name and source:
copilot plugin install <plugin-name>@awesome-copilot
Example:
copilot plugin install project-planning@awesome-copilot
2

Verify Installation

Installed plugins appear in your GitHub Copilot configuration and their agents/commands become available in VS Code.
3

Use Plugin Resources

  • Access agents through the VS Code Chat interface
  • Use slash commands from skills (e.g., /project-planning:create-implementation-plan)
  • Skills can bundle templates, scripts, and reference materials

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Manual Installation

You can also manually copy plugin resources:
  1. Browse to individual agent or skill files in the repository
  2. Download the .agent.md files or skill folders
  3. Add them to your local .github/ directory

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Marketplace Discovery

Plugins are discoverable through the marketplace.json file, which is automatically generated during the build process: 
{
  "name": "awesome-copilot",
  "metadata": {
    "description": "Community-driven collection of GitHub Copilot plugins",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "pluginRoot": "./plugins"
  },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "project-planning",
      "source": "project-planning",
      "description": "Tools and guidance for software project planning...",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    }
  ]
}
The marketplace file:
  • Lives at .github/plugin/marketplace.json
  • Is generated by running npm run build
  • Aggregates all plugin manifests from the plugins/ directory
  • Enables plugin discovery and installation via CLI

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Building Plugins

# Validate plugin manifest structure
npm run plugin:validate

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Plugin Benefits

Themed Collections

Group related agents and skills around specific workflows or technologies

Easy Discovery

Featured plugins help users find comprehensive toolkits quickly

One-Command Install

Install entire capability sets with a single CLI command

Version Management

Semantic versioning enables tracking and updating plugin capabilities

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Next Steps

Plugin Catalog

Explore available plugins and featured collections

Contributing Guide

Learn how to contribute plugins to the repository

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