name: copilot-delegate
description: >-
Delegate a coding task to the GitHub Copilot CLI (copilot) as a background implementer, then
review its diff and land it yourself. Use this whenever the user wants to delegate implementation
work to Copilot - phrasings like "have Copilot implement X", "delegate this to copilot", "run it
through Copilot CLI", or "use copilot to implement/fix/refactor" - or wants to run a queue of
coding tasks through Copilot while staying the reviewer. DO NOT USE for tasks small enough to do
inline, or when the user wants the code written directly without delegating.
license: MIT
compatibility: Requires the copilot CLI installed and authenticated (copilot login), Node 18+ to run the relay (the copilot CLI itself requires Node 22+), and git. The orchestrator must be able to run shell commands and read files.
metadata:
version: 0.5.0
Copilot Delegate
You are the orchestrator. Delegate a bounded coding task to a separate implementer — the
GitHub Copilot CLI — then review what it produced and land it yourself. You write the brief and own
the judgment; the implementer makes changes in its own session in a clean working tree; you verify
and commit.
The loop needs only a shell command and file access, so any comparable orchestrator can drive it.
When NOT to use this
The task is small enough to do inline; delegation overhead is not worth it.
The copilot CLI is not installed or authenticated.
You need a hard sandbox. Copilot exposes sandbox controls, but they are upstream-experimental
(MXC-based, controlled via the /sandbox command and settings, disabled by default) — this relay
does not configure them. only disables edit tools (); shell commands
still run. If project files must not change at all, dispatch against a clean or isolated worktree.
--read-only
--mode plan
Prerequisites (check once)
Install copilot (npm install -g @github/copilot; the CLI requires Node 22+, the relay
itself runs on Node 18+ — the relay probes copilot version).
Authenticate: run copilot login (interactive web/device flow), or set
COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN / GH_TOKEN / GITHUB_TOKEN in the environment.
Confirm copilot version succeeds.
Work in, or point --cd at, the target git repository.
Choose the model (optional)
Copilot picks a default model (auto). To choose another, pass --model <name>.
The relay accepts letters, digits, and . _ : / - only (the value reaches a shell on Windows).
Choose the effort (optional)
Copilot supports a reasoning effort dial: --effort <level> with values
low, medium, high, xhigh, or max. The relay rejects any other value
before dispatch.
The loop
Run these five steps per task. Steps 1, 4, and 5 require judgment; 2 and 3 are mechanical.
1. Write a brief
Copilot sees only the text you send. It cannot read your conversation: the brief must stand alone
with the goal, current state, what to change, what to leave untouched, the project's real
gates, and a report contract. Keep each brief to a single task. Write it to a file and pass it as
the relay's --brief. See references/writing-the-brief.md.
2. Dispatch
For Codex orchestration of background work, install and configure the separate
codex-background support utility first. If its MCP tools or registry are missing, stop and
report the setup requirement; do not silently fall back to model-driven polling. Then invoke its
registered delegate_run MCP tool once in place of the shell example below.
Follow that skill for structured common arguments, unchanged provider flags and reattachment by
runId. Keep the request pending until completion, then continue this skill's review and landing
steps. Other orchestrators keep the shell workflow below.
Use the bundled relay. It runs copilot -p with --output-format json --no-color --stream off,
captures the JSONL event stream, and writes result.json.
node "<skill-dir>/scripts/relay.mjs" --brief brief.txt --cd /path/to/repo
# choose a model: add --model <name>
# set reasoning effort: add --effort <level>
# read-only planning pass: add --read-only (forces --mode plan)
# full tool autonomy: add --allow-all-tools
# hard time limit (watchdog): add --timeout 2h (the 30m default suits brief runs)
# resume a session: add --session <id> or --resume-last
# see all options: node .../relay.mjs --help
The child's cwd pins the workspace. The relay writes artifacts under the system temp dir by
default and never commits. See references/dispatch-and-poll.md.
3. Wait for completion
Codex using codex-background keeps the original MCP request pending: no model-driven sleep,
status or log polling. Use delegate_wait only to reattach after an interrupted request.
The relay blocks until copilot finishes. Run it with the orchestrator's background-command
facility, or background it in the shell and poll for result.json. A pre-run usage error exits 2
and writes no result; a missing copilot exits 127 and writes status: "copilot_unavailable".
Completion means the process exited and result.json exists — trust process state and the
working tree, not the progress display. Copilot's final assistant message is the finalMessage
field of result.json.
4. Review — do not trust the self-report
Re-run the project's gates yourself.
Read the diff against the brief, starting with touchedFiles.
If the work is good, commit it. The relay never commits — the diff and result.json are the
record; run git status and git diff first to confirm exactly what changed. If the group has a
PR flow, make the commit and push a branch; let human review happen. If the diff is wrong or
incomplete, re-dispatch a corrected brief in a fresh run and review again.
Autonomy and permissions
Without --allow-all-tools, copilot auto-denies tool calls in headless mode: the process exits 0
but the relay detects the denial events and reports status: "failed" with the CLI's own error
message and a hint to pass --allow-all-tools. This is the honest default — the orchestrator sees
the failure rather than a silent no-op.
--allow-all-tools explicitly grants full tool autonomy. --read-only selects --mode plan,
which disables edit tools so project files can't be changed by direct edits; it works without
--allow-all-tools. Shell commands still run in plan mode, so it guards against edits, not
against everything. The two flags are mutually exclusive.
Copilot also exposes sandbox controls, but they are upstream-experimental (MXC-based, controlled
via the /sandbox command and settings, disabled by default). This relay does not configure them.
Authorization model
Delegation is something the human opts into. Once briefed, copilot works as a tool you approved use
of. The boundary is: do not accept conclusions from the self-report; verify everything on
disk. For anything touching credentials, production data, or irreversible operations, stop and ask
the human first instead of encoding it in a brief.
references/multi-task-queues.md — sequential queues,
constraint carry-forward, progress tracking, and the final coherence pass.
How do I install copilot-delegate?
Download skills/copilot-delegate/SKILL.md from the publisher, or copy the path and open the repository. PlugMCP lists the skill and does not host the file.
Where does copilot-delegate live?
The publisher keeps it at https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills.
Which agents can use copilot-delegate?
Claude, Cursor, and Codex can read a SKILL.md you add from the publisher's repository.