Read user instructions in ~/.github

[StephaneDelcroix]

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

copilot read repository custom instructions. I'd like it to read local instructions about my local preferences too

Proposed solution

read ~/.github/instructions.md or something

Example prompts or workflows

No response

Additional context

No response

[imkuang]

As far as I know (and I have also verified this), the Copilot CLI currently reads the $HOME/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md file. You can see this mentioned by running /help in the Copilot CLI (although I haven't found any other documentation that explains this).

   Respects instructions sourced from various locations:
     `.github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md` (in git root and cwd)
     `.github/copilot-instructions.md`
     `AGENTS.md` (in git root and cwd)
     `CLAUDE.md`
     `GEMINI.md`
     `$HOME/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md`
     Additional directories via `COPILOT_CUSTOM_INSTRUCTIONS_DIRS`

[Cnordbo]

All the docs specify a hierarchy for how it reads instructions:

~/.github/{agents/prompts/instructions/skills}/*.md

And that it uses $HOME/.github/** for globally accessible instructions
<repository>/.github/* for repository instructions

It even says so if i ask it how i should configure my agents.

But, Copilot CLI doesnt find any global agents (only tested with ~/.github/agents/*.agent.md folder)

If i ask it to troubleshoot, it says it sees the file, but that its in the wrong format and should me YAML instead of MD.
But even after it converts the .MD file to yaml file, it still doesnt show up as an available agent. (yes, restarts have been done)

Steps to reproduce:

Create a new agent at ~/.github/agents/my-agent.agent.md
Run copilot and type /agent to list available options:

Expected result:
Agent "my-agent" is listed

Actual results:

No available custom agents

[StephaneDelcroix]

when I ask copilot-cli to write instructions, it writes them at the right place, but it often forget to read them at startup

[StephaneDelcroix]

the doc says ".github/..." and "/.copilot/" (as stated by @imkuang). but still copilot writes down to "`/.github/" and don't read from there, unless asked to

[examon]

Closing as a duplicate of #252 ("Global Instructions File Support"), which tracks the same request for a user-level/global instructions file. If you believe this issue is meaningfully different or still not resolved, please feel free to reopen it.