GitHub Copilot Coding Agent — Issue → Draft PR automation

If you add the ai-copilot label to an issue, GitHub Actions automatically assigns it to Copilot, and Copilot creates a branch → writes code → opens a Draft PR.

When to use this skill

• When PMs/designers create issues and Copilot starts implementation without a developer

• When offloading backlog issues (refactors/docs/tests) to Copilot

• When delegating follow-up work created by Vibe Kanban / Conductor to Copilot

• When automating pipelines like Jira → GitHub Issue → Copilot PR

Prerequisites

• GitHub plan: Copilot Pro+, Business, or Enterprise

• Copilot Coding Agent enabled: Must be enabled in repo settings

• gh CLI: Authenticated

• PAT: Personal Access Token with repo scope

One-time setup

One-click setup (register token + deploy workflow + create label)

bash scripts/copilot-setup-workflow.sh

This script does:

• Register COPILOT_ASSIGN_TOKEN as a repo secret

• Deploy .github/workflows/assign-to-copilot.yml

• Create the ai-copilot label

Usage

Option 1: GitHub Actions automation (recommended)

Create issue + ai-copilot label → auto-assign Copilot

gh issue create
--label ai-copilot
--title "Add user authentication"
--body "Implement JWT-based auth with refresh tokens. Include login, logout, refresh endpoints."

Option 2: Add a label to an existing issue

Add label to issue #42 → trigger Actions

gh issue edit 42 --add-label ai-copilot

Option 3: Assign directly via script

export COPILOT_ASSIGN_TOKEN=<your-pat> bash scripts/copilot-assign-issue.sh 42

How it works (technical)

Issue created/labeled ↓ GitHub Actions triggered (assign-to-copilot.yml) ↓ Look up Copilot bot ID via GraphQL ↓ replaceActorsForAssignable → set Copilot as assignee ↓ Copilot Coding Agent starts processing the issue ↓ Create branch → write code → open Draft PR ↓ Auto-assign you as PR reviewer

Required GraphQL header:

GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support,coding_agent_model_selection

GitHub Actions workflows

Workflow Trigger Purpose

assign-to-copilot.yml

Issue labeled ai-copilot

Auto-assign to Copilot

copilot-pr-ci.yml

PR open/update Run CI (build + tests)

Copilot PR limitations

Copilot is treated like an external contributor.

• PRs are created as Draft by default

• Before the first Actions run, a manual approval from someone with write access is required

• After approval, copilot-pr-ci.yml CI runs normally

Check CI after manual approval

gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/' gh pr view <pr-number>

planno (plannotator) integration — optional

Review the issue spec in planno before assigning to Copilot (independent skill, not required):

Review and approve this issue spec in planno

After approval, add the ai-copilot label → trigger Actions.

Common use cases

1. Label-based Copilot queue

PM writes an issue → add ai-copilot label → Actions auto-assigns → Copilot creates Draft PR → Team only performs PR review

2. Combined with Vibe Kanban / Conductor

Follow-up issues created by Vibe Kanban: refactors/docs cleanup/add tests → ai-copilot label → Copilot handles → Team focuses on main feature development

3. External system integration

Jira issue → Zapier/webhook → auto-create GitHub Issue → ai-copilot label → Copilot PR → Fully automated pipeline

4. Refactoring backlog processing

Bulk-add label to backlog issues

gh issue list --label "tech-debt" --json number
| jq '.[].number'
| xargs -I{} gh issue edit {} --add-label ai-copilot

Check results

List PRs created by Copilot

gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/'

Specific issue status

gh issue view 42

PR CI status

gh pr checks <pr-number>

References

• GitHub Copilot Coding Agent overview

• Ask Copilot to create a PR (GraphQL example)

• Official docs: assign Copilot to an issue

• Copilot PR permissions/limitations

• GitHub Copilot coding agent (VSCode docs)

Quick Reference

=== Setup === bash scripts/copilot-setup-workflow.sh one-time setup

=== Issue assignment === gh issue create --label ai-copilot ... new issue + auto-assign gh issue edit <num> --add-label ai-copilot existing issue bash scripts/copilot-assign-issue.sh <num> manual assign

=== Verify results === gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/' Copilot PR list gh pr view <num> PR details gh pr checks <num> CI status

=== Constraints === Copilot Pro+/Business/Enterprise required First PR requires manual approval (treated as an external contributor) PAT: repo scope required