feat: add native copilot command to shim copilot cli by devm33 · Pull Request #12444 · cli/cli

devm33 · 2026-01-07T21:36:56Z

Fixes #12427

Introduces gh copilot as a core command.

Key behavior

gh copilot will prompt to install Copilot CLI when run for the first time.
gh copilot <args> will execute the Copilot CLI, forwarding any args and flags provided except those that gh supports.
Support the stop parse (--) character for bypassing flag conflicts between gh and Copilot CLI, e.g. gh copilot -- --help
Extensions that conflict with core commands are no longer registered. Previously, both extensions and core commands were registered in a non-deterministic race.
If gh copilot is run in GitHub Actions, install without confirmation prompt.

andyfeller

Congrats on joining the ranks of gh contribution, @devm33!

Not meant to be a full review but wanted to offer some feedback to help shape this 🙇

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR introduces a native gh copilot command that shims the Copilot CLI, addressing issues where the deprecated gh copilot extension no longer works and LLMs incorrectly suggest using gh copilot to invoke the Copilot CLI. The implementation automatically downloads and manages the copilot binary if it's not already in the user's PATH.

Key changes:

Adds a new native copilot command that checks for the copilot binary in PATH, then in gh's data directory, and downloads it if not found
Implements archive extraction for both tar.gz (Linux/macOS) and zip (Windows) formats with path traversal protection
Provides a --remove flag to uninstall the downloaded binary

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 15 comments.

File	Description
pkg/cmd/root/root.go	Registers the new copilot command in the root command structure
pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go	Implements the copilot command with download, extraction, and execution logic
pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot_test.go	Adds basic tests for command structure and removal functionality

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go:169

The function does not have a doc comment. Public or exported helper functions should include documentation describing their purpose, parameters, and return values.

func extractTarGz(r io.Reader, destDir string) error {

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go:282

Using file mode directly from the zip archive could preserve dangerous permissions or special bits. Consider masking the mode to only preserve standard file permissions (e.g., mode & 0777) to prevent potential security issues.

		if err := extractZipFile(target, f.Mode(), rc); err != nil {

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pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

babakks

Thanks for the PR again, @devm33! 🙏

I haven't yet gone through the tests, but noticed some points that will improve the impl and help with future maintenance.

Regarding the comment on structuring the code to be like other gh commands, I can push a commit to fix that, but I won't do it now in case you have uncommitted/unpushed changes. Let me know please.

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

babakks · 2026-01-13T13:44:04Z

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

+func removeCopilotFromDir(io *iostreams.IOStreams, installDir string) error {
+	if _, err := os.Stat(installDir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		fmt.Fprintln(io.ErrOut, "Copilot CLI is not installed")
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := os.RemoveAll(installDir); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to remove Copilot CLI: %w", err)
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintln(io.ErrOut, "Copilot CLI removed successfully")
+	return nil
+}


I think it's better to handle messaging on stdio at the command level. This way, we won't need to pass IOStreams down.

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

babakks · 2026-01-14T12:40:00Z

I just fixed conflicts between the branches and pushed. When the CI passes, I'll rebase the branch and rewrite the commits as there are lots of repeated/overlapping changes. After that, I'll push a few more to fix issues I've discovered while fixing the conflicts.

pkg/cmd/root/root.go

pkg/cmd/root/extension_registration_test.go

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

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pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

pkg/cmd/root/extension_registration_test.go

pkg/cmd/root/root.go

babakks

LGTM! 🙏 Just a few quick ones.

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

BagToad

LGTM

andyfeller

This looks really good, @BagToad @babakks! Ship it!

andyfeller · 2026-01-16T18:37:39Z

pkg/cmd/copilot/copilot.go

+		if opts.IO.IsStdoutTTY() {
+			fmt.Fprintln(opts.IO.ErrOut, "Copilot CLI removed successfully")
+		}


thought: I wonder if this conditional should be checking IsStderrTTY since the output is writing to stderr instead of stdout 🤔

This isn't blocking by any means but something I noticed here and in other places of the code base:

cli/pkg/cmd/label/list.go

Lines 98 to 100 in 559e729

if opts.IO.IsStdoutTTY() {

fmt.Fprintf(opts.IO.ErrOut, "Opening %s in your browser.\n", text.DisplayURL(labelListURL))

}

cli/pkg/cmd/extension/command.go

Lines 173 to 175 in 559e729

if io.IsStdoutTTY() {

fmt.Fprintf(io.ErrOut, "Opening %s in your browser.\n", text.DisplayURL(url))

}

cli/internal/ghcmd/cmd.go

Lines 132 to 134 in 559e729

if cmdFactory.IOStreams.IsStdoutTTY() {

fmt.Fprintln(stderr, noResultsError.Error())

}

I think it might be nice to unify some of these conditionals to something shared anyway 🤔

…ackage Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com> Co-authored-by: Kynan Ware <bagtoad@github.com> Co-authored-by: Devraj Mehta <devm33@github.com>

Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com> Co-authored-by: Kynan Ware <bagtoad@github.com> Co-authored-by: Devraj Mehta <devm33@github.com>

Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com>

babakks · 2026-01-19T18:05:46Z

@BagToad and I verified the changes work on Windows. For that to work we had to fix the download URL.

Replaces runtime.GOOS with 'win32' in the test archive filename within TestDownloadCopilot. This ensures the test uses the expected archive name for Windows.

This MR contains the following updates: | Package | Update | Change | |---|---|---| | [cli/cli](https://github.com/cli/cli) | minor | `v2.85.0` → `v2.86.0` | MR created with the help of [el-capitano/tools/renovate-bot](https://gitlab.com/el-capitano/tools/renovate-bot). **Proposed changes to behavior should be submitted there as MRs.** --- ### Release Notes <details> <summary>cli/cli (cli/cli)</summary> ### [`v2.86.0`](https://github.com/cli/cli/releases/tag/v2.86.0): GitHub CLI 2.86.0 [Compare Source](cli/cli@v2.85.0...v2.86.0) ####

Install and run GitHub Copilot CLI directly from `gh` Since we deprecated the [GitHub Copilot in the CLI](https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-25-upcoming-deprecation-of-gh-copilot-cli-extension/) extension in favor of the new agentic [GitHub Copilot CLI](https://github.com/github/copilot-cli), we want to give developers using `gh` a simple way to get started using our most powerful terminal assistant. - `gh copilot` will prompt to install, then run Copilot CLI - `gh copilot <args>` will execute the Copilot CLI, forwarding any arguments and flags For more information and usage options, run `gh copilot --help`. #### What's Changed ##### ✨ Features - `gh copilot`: add native `copilot` command to execute/install copilot cli by [@devm33](https://github.com/devm33) in [#12444](cli/cli#12444) - `gh cache delete`: allow for delete all caches for a ref by [@davidspek](https://github.com/davidspek) in [#12101](cli/cli#12101) - `gh pr create`: error when head and base refs are identical in pr create by [@majiayu000](https://github.com/majiayu000) in [#12376](cli/cli#12376) ##### 📚 Docs & Chores - Fix Windows asset URL in `copilot` command tests by [@babakks](https://github.com/babakks) in [#12500](cli/cli#12500) - Update contributing guidelines for clarity by [@BagToad](https://github.com/BagToad) in [#12505](cli/cli#12505) #### New Contributors - [@devm33](https://github.com/devm33) made their first contribution in [#12444](cli/cli#12444) - [@davidspek](https://github.com/davidspek) made their first contribution in [#12101](cli/cli#12101) **Full Changelog**: <cli/cli@v2.85.0...v2.86.0> </details> --- ### Configuration 📅 **Schedule**: Branch creation - At any time (no schedule defined), Automerge - At any time (no schedule defined). 🚦 **Automerge**: Disabled by config. Please merge this manually once you are satisfied. ♻ **Rebasing**: Whenever MR becomes conflicted, or you tick the rebase/retry checkbox. 🔕 **Ignore**: Close this MR and you won't be reminded about this update again. --- - [ ] If you want to rebase/retry this MR, check this box --- This MR has been generated by [Renovate Bot](https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate).

devm33 temporarily deployed to cli-automation January 7, 2026 21:37 — with GitHub Actions Inactive

devm33 force-pushed the ghcopilot branch from 47e23de to d1d25e7 Compare January 7, 2026 21:37

andyfeller reviewed Jan 8, 2026

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devm33 force-pushed the ghcopilot branch from deaa4de to 9eecae9 Compare January 8, 2026 03:31

BagToad reviewed Jan 9, 2026

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devm33 marked this pull request as ready for review January 9, 2026 20:02

devm33 requested a review from a team as a code owner January 9, 2026 20:02

devm33 requested review from BagToad and Copilot January 9, 2026 20:02

devm33 temporarily deployed to cli-automation January 9, 2026 20:02 — with GitHub Actions Inactive

cliAutomation added the external pull request originating outside of the CLI core team label Jan 9, 2026

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BagToad requested a review from Copilot January 15, 2026 20:28

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BagToad requested review from andyfeller, babakks and williammartin January 15, 2026 20:57

babakks approved these changes Jan 15, 2026

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babakks and others added 2 commits January 19, 2026 10:38

refactor(run download): extract zip extraction func into a separate p…

0f32f2a

…ackage Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com> Co-authored-by: Kynan Ware <bagtoad@github.com> Co-authored-by: Devraj Mehta <devm33@github.com>

feat: add copilot command

3988065

Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com> Co-authored-by: Kynan Ware <bagtoad@github.com> Co-authored-by: Devraj Mehta <devm33@github.com>

babakks and others added 2 commits January 19, 2026 10:38

chore(root): register copilot command

08a4413

Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com> Co-authored-by: Kynan Ware <bagtoad@github.com> Co-authored-by: Devraj Mehta <devm33@github.com>

fix(root): avoid command name collision when registering extensions

10b4a1f

Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com> Co-authored-by: Kynan Ware <bagtoad@github.com> Co-authored-by: Devraj Mehta <devm33@github.com>

babakks force-pushed the ghcopilot branch from 46c3e07 to 10b4a1f Compare January 19, 2026 10:39

babakks requested a review from BagToad January 19, 2026 15:59

fix(copilot): replace windows with win32 to match asset names

bc5a44a

Signed-off-by: Babak K. Shandiz <babakks@github.com>

BagToad enabled auto-merge January 19, 2026 18:05

Fix OS name in test archive filename to 'win32'

d187bef

Replaces runtime.GOOS with 'win32' in the test archive filename within TestDownloadCopilot. This ensures the test uses the expected archive name for Windows.

BagToad merged commit 2728635 into cli:trunk Jan 19, 2026
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	if opts.IO.IsStdoutTTY() {
	fmt.Fprintf(opts.IO.ErrOut, "Opening %s in your browser.\n", text.DisplayURL(labelListURL))
	}

	if io.IsStdoutTTY() {
	fmt.Fprintf(io.ErrOut, "Opening %s in your browser.\n", text.DisplayURL(url))
	}

	if cmdFactory.IOStreams.IsStdoutTTY() {
	fmt.Fprintln(stderr, noResultsError.Error())
	}

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devm33 commented Jan 7, 2026 •

edited by BagToad

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