Using Plugins

Plugins are curated collections of related agents and skills organized around specific themes, workflows, or use cases. They make it easy to install comprehensive toolkits for particular scenarios with a single command.

What are Plugins?

Plugins bundle related customizations into installable packages:

Agents - Specialized AI personas for the plugin’s domain
Skills - Self-contained capabilities with bundled resources
Commands - Custom CLI commands (coming soon)
Themes - Organized by technology, workflow, or use case

Plugins are the easiest way to adopt complete toolkits for specific technologies or workflows without manually downloading individual files.

Plugin Structure

Each plugin is a folder with metadata and references:

plugins/csharp-dotnet-development/
├── README.md                    # Documentation
└── .github/plugin/
    └── plugin.json             # Plugin manifest

plugin.json Structure

{
  "name": "csharp-dotnet-development",
  "description": "Essential toolkit for C# and .NET development",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "keywords": ["csharp", "dotnet", "aspnet", "testing"],
  "agents": [
    "../../agents/csharp-expert.agent.md",
    "../../agents/debug.agent.md"
  ],
  "skills": [
    "../../skills/csharp-async/",
    "../../skills/ef-core/",
    "../../skills/csharp-docs/"
  ]
}

Fields:

name: Matches folder name (lowercase-with-hyphens)
description: Brief plugin description
version: Semantic version (e.g., “1.0.0”)
keywords: Tags for discovery
agents: Paths to agent files (relative to plugin.json)
skills: Paths to skill folders (relative to plugin.json)

Installing Plugins

GitHub Copilot CLI
Interactive Mode
Manual Installation

Add marketplace

copilot plugin marketplace add github/awesome-copilot

Browse plugins

# List available plugins
copilot plugin search

# Search by keyword
copilot plugin search azure

Install plugin

# Install by name
copilot plugin install csharp-dotnet-development@awesome-copilot

# Install latest version
copilot plugin install azure-cloud-development@awesome-copilot

Verify installation

copilot plugin list

Use the /plugin command in Copilot chat:

Open GitHub Copilot chat
Type /plugin
Browse available plugins interactively
Select and install with a click

Browse catalog

Visit the plugins/ directory to explore available plugins.

Download files

Download the agents and skills referenced in the plugin:

# Example: C# .NET Development plugin
cp agents/csharp-expert.agent.md .github/copilot/
cp -r skills/csharp-async/ .github/skills/
cp -r skills/ef-core/ .github/skills/

Verify structure

Ensure all files are in the correct locations:

.github/
├── copilot/
│   └── csharp-expert.agent.md
└── skills/
    ├── csharp-async/
    └── ef-core/

Featured Plugins

Highlighted plugins that cover common scenarios:

Awesome Copilot
Copilot SDK
Partners

Meta skills for discovering and generating GitHub Copilot customizations

copilot plugin install awesome-copilot@awesome-copilot

Includes:

Agent discovery and creation
Instruction generators
Skill templates
Prompt engineering guides

Tags: github-copilot, discovery, meta, prompt-engineering

Build applications with GitHub Copilot SDK across multiple languages

copilot plugin install copilot-sdk@awesome-copilot

Includes:

Comprehensive SDK instructions
C#, Go, Node.js, TypeScript, Python support
Agent creation patterns
Integration examples

Tags: copilot-sdk, sdk, ai, github-copilot

Custom agents from GitHub partners

copilot plugin install partners@awesome-copilot

Includes:

DevOps integrations
Security tools
Database agents
Cloud platform specialists

Tags: devops, security, database, cloud, infrastructure

Plugin Categories

Plugins are organized by use case and technology:

Language & Framework Plugins

csharp-dotnet-development - C# and .NET toolkit
java-development - Java, Spring Boot, Quarkus
python-mcp-development - Python MCP servers
frontend-web-dev - React, Angular, Vue, TypeScript
go-mcp-development - Go MCP server development

Cloud & Infrastructure

azure-cloud-development - Azure IaC, serverless, architecture
context-engineering - Context optimization for Copilot
database-data-management - PostgreSQL, SQL Server, optimization
devops-oncall - Incident response, triage, Azure resources

Testing & Quality

testing-automation - TDD, unit tests, integration tests
polyglot-test-agent - Multi-language test generation
security-best-practices - OWASP, accessibility, performance

Microsoft 365 & Power Platform

mcp-m365-copilot - Declarative agents with MCP
power-bi-development - DAX, modeling, optimization
power-apps-code-apps - Code-first Power Apps
dataverse - Microsoft Dataverse integrations

Specialized Workflows

project-planning - Epics, features, implementation planning
technical-spike - Assumption testing, validation
gem-team - Multi-agent orchestration
noob-mode - Plain-English translation for non-technical users

Plugin Details

Each plugin provides:

{
  "name": "csharp-dotnet-development",
  "description": "Essential toolkit for C# and .NET",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "keywords": ["csharp", "dotnet", "aspnet"]
}

Managing Plugins

Common plugin management tasks:

# View all installed plugins
copilot plugin list

# Show plugin details
copilot plugin show csharp-dotnet-development

Creating Your Own Plugins

To create a custom plugin:

Create plugin folder

mkdir -p plugins/my-plugin/.github/plugin
cd plugins/my-plugin

Create plugin.json

{
  "name": "my-plugin",
  "description": "My custom plugin description",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "keywords": ["custom", "team"],
  "agents": [
    "../../agents/my-agent.agent.md"
  ],
  "skills": [
    "../../skills/my-skill/"
  ]
}

Create README.md

# My Plugin

Description of what this plugin provides.

## Included Agents
- My Agent - Description

## Included Skills
- my-skill - Description

## Installation
\`\`\`bash
copilot plugin install my-plugin@my-marketplace
\`\`\`

Validate and test

# From repository root
npm run plugin:validate

# Generate marketplace.json
npm run plugin:generate-marketplace

Best Practices

Keep Plugins Focused

Group related agents and skills by theme
Don’t mix unrelated technologies
Use clear, descriptive names
Tag appropriately for discoverability

Good: react-development (React-specific tools)
Bad: web-dev-everything (too broad)

Version Plugins Properly

Use semantic versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH)
Increment MAJOR for breaking changes
Increment MINOR for new features
Increment PATCH for bug fixes

{
  "version": "2.1.3"
  // 2 = major version
  // 1 = minor version
  // 3 = patch version
}

Document Thoroughly

List all included agents and skills
Explain what the plugin enables
Provide usage examples
Document prerequisites

## Prerequisites
- GitHub Copilot subscription
- VS Code 1.85+
- .NET 8 SDK

## What's Included
Detailed list of all resources...

Test Before Publishing

# Validate structure
npm run plugin:validate

# Test installation locally
copilot plugin install ./plugins/my-plugin

# Verify all references resolve
npm run build

Troubleshooting

Plugin not installing

Verify marketplace is added: copilot plugin marketplace list
Check plugin name spelling
Ensure you have internet connectivity
Try updating the marketplace: copilot plugin marketplace update

Missing agents/skills after install

Verify plugin.json paths are correct
Check files exist in the repository
Reload VS Code window
Re-install plugin: copilot plugin uninstall X && copilot plugin install X

Plugin validation errors

Check plugin.json is valid JSON
Verify all paths are relative and correct
Ensure name matches folder name
Run npm run plugin:validate for detailed errors

Plugin Marketplace

The plugin marketplace is generated from plugin.json files:

// .github/plugin/marketplace.json
{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "csharp-dotnet-development",
      "description": "Essential toolkit for C# and .NET",
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "keywords": ["csharp", "dotnet"],
      "items": 9
    }
  ]
}

This file is:

Auto-generated by npm run build
Discoverable by GitHub Copilot CLI
Searchable by keywords and tags

Browse All Plugins
Marketplace JSON
Custom Agents - Individual agent files
Agent Skills - Self-contained capabilities
Contributing Guide

Overview

Installation

Usage

Using Plugins

Using Plugins

What are Plugins?

Plugin Structure

Installing Plugins

Featured Plugins

Plugin Categories

Plugin Details

Managing Plugins

Creating Your Own Plugins

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Plugin Marketplace

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Installation

Usage

​Using Plugins

​What are Plugins?

​Plugin Structure

​Installing Plugins

​Featured Plugins

​Plugin Categories

​Plugin Details

​Managing Plugins

​Creating Your Own Plugins

​Best Practices

​Troubleshooting

​Plugin Marketplace

​Related Resources

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Using Plugins

What are Plugins?

Plugin Structure

Installing Plugins

Featured Plugins

Plugin Categories

Plugin Details

Managing Plugins

Creating Your Own Plugins

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Plugin Marketplace

Related Resources