Copilot Deep Dive - lab setup

These instructions will guide you through configuring a GitHub Codespaces environment that you can use to run the course labs. If you prefer and if you know one of the other IDEs supported by Copilot, you can use that. But the instructions will reference the codespace version.

NOTES:

1. We will be working in the public GitHub.com, not a private instance.
2. Chrome may work better than Firefox for some tasks.
3. The default environment will be a GitHub Codespace (with Copilot already installed). If you prefer to use your own IDE, you are responsible for installing Copilot in it. Some things in the lab may be different if you use your own environment.
4. To copy and paste in the codespace, you may need to use keyboard commands - CTRL-C and CTRL-V.
5. VPNs may interfere with the ability to run the codespace. It is recommended to not use a VPN if you run into problems.
6. If you use the new free Copilot plan (no signup), some advanced functionality may not be available. Pro version is free trial for 30 days.
   
   
   

These steps must be completed prior to starting the actual labs.

1. To be able to use all features, sign up for Pro trial - if you don't have access already. (If you prefer, you can use the new free version but some features will be missing. If you want to use the free version of Copilot, you can skip this step.)

If not, when signed into GitHub, click on your profile picture/icon in the upper right and either select Copilot

OR select Settings->Copilot and sign up.

You can also find help there for using Copilot in other supported IDEs, set the switch for whether or not to allow matching public code suggestions, etc.

2. Create your own codespace to run the labs by clicking on the button below.

Click here ------>

Then click on the option to create a new codespace.

This will run for several minutes while it gets everything ready.

3. Open the labs

After the codespace has started, open the labs document by going to the file tree on the left, find the file named codespace-labs.md, right-click on it, and open it with the Preview option.) Alternatively, you can open it up in a separate browser tab directly from the GitHub site.

This will open it up in a tab above your terminal. Then you can follow along with the steps in the labs. Any command in the gray boxes is either code intended to be run in the console or code to be updated in a file.

Labs doc: Copilot Deep Dive Labs

4. Set codespace timeout (optional but recommended)

While logged in to GitHub, go to https://github.com/settings/codespaces.

Scroll down and find the section on the page labeled Default idle timeout.

Increase the default timeout value to 90 minutes and then select the Save button.

(NOTE: If your codespace does time out at some point in the course, there should be a button to restart it.)