Copilot

This guide covers authentication, configuration, and usage of GitHub Copilot in a sandboxed environment.

Official documentation: GitHub Copilot CLI

Quick start#

[!NOTE] In Docker Sandboxes v0.42, use sbx run docker.io/sbx/copilot-kit:latest. The copilot shorthand is unavailable in this release.

Create a sandbox and run Copilot for a project directory:

$ sbx run copilot ~/my-project

The workspace parameter is optional and defaults to the current directory:

$ cd ~/my-project
$ sbx run copilot

Authentication#

Copilot requires a GitHub token with Copilot access. Store your token using stored secrets:

$ sbx secret set github --command 'gh auth token'

Configuration#

Sandboxes don't pick up user-level configuration from your host. Only project-level configuration in the working directory is available inside the sandbox. See Why doesn't the sandbox use my user-level agent configuration? for workarounds.

Copilot is configured to trust the workspace directory by default, so it operates without repeated confirmations for workspace files.

Default startup command#

Without extra args, the sandbox runs:

copilot --yolo

Arguments after -- are added after the default flags when the first one is itself a flag (begins with -), so --yolo is preserved:

$ sbx run copilot -- -p "review this PR"   # runs copilot --yolo -p "review this PR"

When the first argument is a bare word — a subcommand or prompt — it replaces the defaults instead.

Base image#

Template: docker/sandbox-templates:copilot

Preconfigured to trust the workspace directory.

See Customize to pre-install tools or customize this environment.