Exercise - Set up GitHub Copilot to work with Visual Studio Code

  • 5 minutes

In this exercise, we create a new repository using the GitHub template for the JavaScript personal portfolio frontend web application.

Sign up for GitHub Copilot

Before you install and use the extension, you need to register by setting up a free trial or subscription for your account.

Note

Educators, Students and select open-source maintainers can sign up for Copilot for free, learn how at: https://aka.ms/Copilot4Students

Environment set up

First you need to launch the Codespaces environment, which comes preconfigured with the GitHub Copilot extension.

  1. Open the Codespace with the preconfigured environment in your browser.
  2. On the Create codespace page, review the codespace configuration settings and then select Create new codespace
  3. Wait for the codespace to start. This startup process can take a few minutes.
  4. The remaining exercises in this project take place in the context of this development container.

Important

All GitHub accounts can use Codespaces for up to 60 hours free each month with 2 core instances. For more information, see GitHub Codespaces monthly included storage and core hours.

JavaScript portfolio

When complete, Codespaces loads with a terminal section at the bottom. Codespaces installs all the required extensions and dependencies in your container. Once complete, Codespaces uses npm start to start the web application within your Codespace.

When the web application has successfully started, a message in the terminal shows that the server is running on port 1234 within your Codespace.