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      • Copilot CLI

      GitHub Copilot CLI puts an agentic coding assistant in the terminal: interactive sessions, one-shot -p prompts, and Issue / PR workflows. Official pages:

      You need a valid Copilot entitlement. If an org disabled the CLI, sign-in alone will not help. Commands, slash verbs, and package names follow copilot help / /help on the day you install.

      Requirements

      PlatformNotes
      WindowsGitHub requires PowerShell 6+ (PowerShell 7 recommended). WinGet id GitHub.Copilot
      macOS / LinuxHomebrew cask or the official install script
      npm (all platforms)Node.js 22+, package @github/copilot

      In PowerShell 7:

      $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
node -v

      macOS:

      node -v

      Install

      npm (all platforms, Node 22+):

      npm install -g @github/copilot

      If ~/.npmrc has ignore-scripts=true, GitHub requires:

      npm_config_ignore_scripts=false npm install -g @github/copilot

      Windows (WinGet):

      winget install GitHub.Copilot

      macOS / Linux (Homebrew):

      brew install --cask copilot-cli

      macOS / Linux (script):

      curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | bash

      Use | sudo bash to install into /usr/local/bin. Custom prefix: PREFIX. Pin a version: VERSION. You can also download binaries from github/copilot-cli releases.

      Verify:

      copilot --version

      If Windows cannot find the command, open a new terminal and confirm WinGet’s shim directory is on PATH.

      First interactive session

      Start inside the project directory so the CLI can see the repo:

      cd path/to/your-repo
copilot
      1. If you are not logged in, run /login and finish device / browser GitHub auth.
      2. Confirm you trust the current directory for an AI tool. GitHub notes Copilot will not change files without explicit approval.
      3. Try: Give me an overview of this project.

      You may instead export a fine-grained PAT with Copilot Requests, using COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN, GH_TOKEN, or GITHUB_TOKEN (that precedence). Never commit the token.

      Shortcuts and slash commands

      From the getting-started guide:

      KeyAction
      EscCancel the current operation
      Ctrl+CCancel if thinking; otherwise clear input or exit
      Ctrl+LClear the screen
      @Mention files for context
      /Slash commands
      ?Tabbed help
      ↑ / ↓History

      Full list: /help in a session, or copilot help in the shell. Docs also mention /plan, /pr, /fleet, /research—trust help for your CLI version, not a memorized list.

      Non-interactive: -p and scripts

      Skip the TUI (good for scripts):

      copilot -p "In Git, how can I apply a commit from another branch"

      Response only, without extra usage chrome:

      copilot -sp "List the test command quoted from this repo's package.json. Do not invent scripts."

      More flags: copilot help. For GitHub Actions, follow Running GitHub Copilot CLI programmatically and Using Copilot CLI in GitHub Actions with GITHUB_TOKEN. Do not print a personal PAT in workflow logs.

      How it splits with the IDE / Cursor

      • CLI: SSH, CI, keyboard-only, or terminal GitHub flows such as /pr
      • VS Code Chat: watching diffs and clicking files
      • Cursor: AI-native editor—see comparison

      You can install Copilot CLI and Cursor’s agent on the same machine; do not let two agents write the same workspace without commits—the merge pain is yours. On Windows, set the default terminal to PowerShell 7 so the CLI does not land in Windows PowerShell 5.1.

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