Distribute Skills and Instructions from Organization Repositories

[pedrogomes97]

Summary

Extend the current agent synchronization mechanism to also distribute Skills (SKILL.md) and Instructions (*.instructions.md) from organization repositories to local VS Code environments, similar to how agents (.agent.md) are currently synchronized.

Current Behavior

Currently, GitHub Copilot synchronizes only agents from organization repositories to:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\github\<org>\agents\

This allows organizations to distribute custom agents centrally, making them available across all projects for team members.

Expected Behavior

Organizations should be able to distribute:

1. Skills (.github/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md)
2. Instructions (.github/instructions/*.instructions.md)

These should be synchronized to local environments in a similar pattern:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\github\<org>\
├── agents/              # ✅ Already working
├── skills/              # ⭐ New: Skills from .github/skills/
└── instructions/        # ⭐ New: Instructions from .github/instructions/

Use Case

Our organization maintains a centralized repository with:

• Custom agents for code review, testing, deployment workflows
• Skills with domain-specific procedures, scripts, and templates
• Instructions with coding standards, architecture patterns, and best practices

Problem: We need to distribute this organizational knowledge to all team members' local environments automatically, just like agents are distributed today.

Current workaround: Manually clone the repository or copy files to each project, which:

• Creates duplication across multiple projects
• Requires manual updates when standards change
• Is error-prone and inconsistent

Benefits

✅ Centralized knowledge distribution - One source of truth for organizational patterns
✅ Automatic updates - Changes propagate to all team members
✅ Consistent standards - Everyone uses the same instructions and skills
✅ Developer productivity - Access to organizational skills via / command
✅ Reduced maintenance - No need to duplicate files across projects

Proposed Repository Structure

Organizations could use a dedicated repository (e.g., acme-org/.github-private) with:

.github/
├── agents/
│   ├── code-review.agent.md
│   └── deployment.agent.md
├── skills/
│   ├── api-testing/SKILL.md
│   └── database-migration/SKILL.md
└── instructions/
    ├── dotnet-standards.instructions.md
    └── security-patterns.instructions.md

VS Code would discover and sync these automatically for organization members.

Expected Sync Behavior

Similar to agents:

1. Auto-discovery: VS Code detects organization repositories with .github/skills/ or .github/instructions/
2. Periodic sync: Updates when repository changes are detected
3. Cache location: Store in globalStorage under organization namespace

Priority

High - This feature enables organizations to scale GitHub Copilot adoption by distributing domain expertise and standards consistently across all development teams.

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Environment

• VS Code Version: 1.111.0
• GitHub Copilot Extension Version: 0.39.0
• OS: Windows 11 (but should work cross-platform)

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Labels: enhancement, copilot, customization, organization-feature

[alexsiilvaa]

I created this issue regarding the same problem:

https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/189753