Skip to content

copilot-setup.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
172 lines (116 loc) · 6.18 KB

copilot-setup.md

File metadata and controls

172 lines (116 loc) · 6.18 KB

Setup: GitHub Copilot

Integration guide for using test-automation-skills-agents with GitHub Copilot in VS Code and on GitHub.

Installation

Option A: Copy to .github/ (Recommended)

This is the canonical approach for GitHub Copilot customizations.

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents.git

# Copy agents
cp -r test-automation-skills-agents/agents/ .github/agents/

# Copy instructions
cp -r test-automation-skills-agents/instructions/ .github/instructions/

# Copy skills
cp -r test-automation-skills-agents/skills/ .github/skills/

Option B: Copilot Instructions File

Create .github/copilot-instructions.md with the repo's conventions:

mkdir -p .github
cat test-automation-skills-agents/CLAUDE.md > .github/copilot-instructions.md

Option C: Git Submodule

git submodule add https://github.com/fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents.git .github/test-automation-skills-agents

Then add a sync step in your workflow to copy assets into .github/agents/, .github/instructions/, and .github/skills/.

Option D: Install Skills via skills.sh

Install individual skills directly:

npx skills add https://github.com/fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents --skill playwright-e2e-testing
npx skills add https://github.com/fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents --skill api-testing
npx skills add https://github.com/fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents --skill webapp-selenium-testing
npx skills add https://github.com/fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents --skill a11y-playwright-testing

Browse all available skills: https://skills.sh/?q=fugazi/test-automation-skills-agents

How Copilot Discovers Customizations

GitHub Copilot looks for customizations in these canonical locations:

Type Path Format
Agents .github/agents/*.agent.md Markdown with YAML frontmatter
Instructions .github/instructions/*.instructions.md Markdown with YAML frontmatter
Skills .github/skills/<name>/SKILL.md Folder-based with frontmatter
Copilot Instructions .github/copilot-instructions.md Plain markdown

Activating Skills

Copilot uses the description field in SKILL.md frontmatter to decide when to load a skill. Skills load progressively:

  • Level 1: Copilot reads name + description to determine relevance
  • Level 2: Copilot loads the full SKILL.md body when relevant
  • Level 3: Copilot loads references/scripts/templates only when linked

If a skill doesn't activate automatically, reference it explicitly:

@workspace Following the playwright-e2e-testing skill, write tests for the login page.
Use the conventions from instructions/playwright-typescript.instructions.md.

qa-test-planner Exception

The qa-test-planner skill is intentionally strict — it activates only when called by name:

@workspace Use the skill qa-test-planner to create a test plan for the payments module.

Using Agents

Agents appear in the Copilot Chat agent selector when placed in .github/agents/.

In VS Code Copilot Chat

  1. Open Copilot Chat.
  2. Select the agent from the agent dropdown (Custom Agents).
  3. Give a task prompt.

Example prompts:

"Use Flaky Test Hunter: investigate why checkout.spec.ts fails intermittently in CI"
"As API Tester Specialist: create negative tests for /v1/orders covering auth failures and schema validation"
"As Selenium Test Specialist: generate POM + JUnit 5 tests for login + forgot password"

In GitHub Copilot Coding Agent

If using Copilot on GitHub (agent workflows), agents under .github/agents/ are discovered automatically.

Recommended pattern:

  1. Use a planning agent to produce an execution plan
  2. Hand off to a specialist agent (Playwright generator/healer, flaky hunter, etc.)

Customization

Project-Level Copilot Instructions

Add to .github/copilot-instructions.md:

## QA Automation Conventions

- Use Playwright for TypeScript E2E testing
- Use Selenium + REST Assured for Java testing
- Follow the Test Orchestration Pattern (TOP)
- Use custom fixtures for Page Object injection
- Prefer getByRole() > getByTestId() > CSS selectors (Playwright)
- Prefer ID > testId > semantic CSS > class > XPath (Selenium)
- Never use Thread.sleep() or waitForTimeout()
- Test happy path AND error states
- Validate all API responses against schemas

Skill-Specific Instructions

Copy specific instructions alongside skills:

# Playwright conventions
cp test-automation-skills-agents/instructions/playwright-typescript.instructions.md .github/instructions/

# Selenium conventions
cp test-automation-skills-agents/instructions/selenium-webdriver-java.instructions.md .github/instructions/

# Accessibility standards
cp test-automation-skills-agents/instructions/a11y.instructions.md .github/instructions/

# CI/CD pipeline setup
cp test-automation-skills-agents/instructions/cicd-testing.instructions.md .github/instructions/

Verifying Setup

  1. Confirm files exist at the expected paths:

    • .github/agents/*.agent.md
    • .github/instructions/*.instructions.md
    • .github/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

  2. In VS Code, reload the window (Developer: Reload Window) to refresh Copilot customizations.

  3. Open Copilot Chat:

    • Check that agents appear in the agent selector dropdown.
    • If a skill doesn't trigger, mention it by name in your prompt.

Tips

  • Reload after changes. Copilot reads customizations at load time. After adding or modifying files, reload the VS Code window.
  • Description quality matters. The description field in SKILL.md frontmatter is what Copilot uses for auto-discovery. Include WHAT, WHEN, and KEYWORDS.
  • Use @workspace for context. When referencing skills or instructions, use @workspace to ensure Copilot includes project files in its context.
  • Split by domain. Keep Playwright, Selenium, and API instructions as separate files for clarity and to avoid context overflow.