Set up TRW for GitHub Copilot CLI

Wire TRW into a GitHub-native repo — repo-wide instructions, path-scoped guidance, hooks, and agents land in the .github/ surfaces Copilot already reads.

Prerequisites

GitHub Copilot CLI installed and authenticated.
Python 3.10+ (3.11+ recommended) and pip 22+.
A git repository you can write to — TRW writes repo-local files only.

Install

curl -fsSL https://trwframework.com/install.sh | bash

When the installer prompts for target clients, select GitHub Copilot CLI. The bootstrap installs trw-mcp and writes the GitHub-native surface into the repo.

What the installer writes

.github/copilot-instructions.md — repo-wide instructions Copilot reads on every session. Encodes the TRW tool lifecycle.
.github/instructions/ — path-scoped *.instructions.md files so guidance applies to the directories it belongs to.
.github/hooks/hooks.json — hook event handlers (with an adapter script) that enforce session-start, pre-compact, and deliver ceremony.
.github/agents/ — *.agent.md specialist agents from the TRW roster.
.github/skills/ — TRW slash-skills as SKILL.md folders.
.vscode/mcp.json — registers trw-mcp under the root servers key (key-merged, so existing servers are preserved).
.trw/config.yaml — repo-local TRW config listing Copilot in target_platforms.

Run your first session

Start Copilot from the project root. It loads .github/copilot-instructions.md (plus any path-scoped instructions) and reads the MCP server from .vscode/mcp.json, so the TRW tools are available on the first turn.

trw_session_start() — loads prior learnings and any active run state.
Do the work. Checkpoint after each milestone so you can resume after compaction.
trw_learn(summary, detail) whenever you discover a non-obvious gotcha.
trw_build_check() then trw_deliver() to persist state for the next session.

Differences from Claude Code

MCP lives in .vscode/mcp.json. Copilot reads the server list from the VS Code config under the servers key — there is no .mcp.json at the repo root.
Instructions are split by path. Instead of one CLAUDE.md, guidance is divided between the repo-wide .github/copilot-instructions.md and path-scoped .github/instructions/ files.
Agent teams are a subset. Not all 12 Claude Code specialists translate cleanly to .github/agents/; expect the core roster plus any specialists Copilot can host.
Same memory store. Learnings captured here are visible to every other TRW-wired client in the same repo.

Common problems

Next steps

Core concepts

Sessions, runs, learnings, and the ceremony loop that TRW enforces on every client.

See the flagship profile

Claude Code is the reference integration — use it to understand the full surface.

Workflows overview

The six-phase lifecycle your Copilot sessions will run through.