Merge pull request #761 from github/copilot/combine-prompts-and-skills

Migrate prompts to skills - consolidate to single task customization model

Author: aaronpowell

AGENTS.md

@@ -2,10 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Project Overview
 
-The Awesome GitHub Copilot repository is a community-driven collection of custom agents, prompts, and instructions designed to enhance GitHub Copilot experiences across various domains, languages, and use cases. The project includes:
+The Awesome GitHub Copilot repository is a community-driven collection of custom agents and instructions designed to enhance GitHub Copilot experiences across various domains, languages, and use cases. The project includes:
 
 - **Agents** - Specialized GitHub Copilot agents that integrate with MCP servers
-- **Prompts** - Task-specific prompts for code generation and problem-solving
 - **Instructions** - Coding standards and best practices applied to specific file patterns
 - **Skills** - Self-contained folders with instructions and bundled resources for specialized tasks
 - **Hooks** - Automated workflows triggered by specific events during development
@@ -17,7 +16,6 @@ The Awesome GitHub Copilot repository is a community-driven collection of custom
 ```
 .
 ├── agents/           # Custom GitHub Copilot agent definitions (.agent.md files)
-├── prompts/          # Task-specific prompts (.prompt.md files)
 ├── instructions/     # Coding standards and guidelines (.instructions.md files)
 ├── skills/           # Agent Skills folders (each with SKILL.md and optional bundled assets)
 ├── hooks/            # Automated workflow hooks (folders with README.md + hooks.json)
@@ -55,23 +53,16 @@ npm run skill:create -- --name <skill-name>
 
 ## Development Workflow
 
-### Working with Agents, Prompts, Instructions, Skills, and Hooks
+### Working with Agents, Instructions, Skills, and Hooks
 
-All agent files (`*.agent.md`), prompt files (`*.prompt.md`), and instruction files (`*.instructions.md`) must include proper markdown front matter. Agent Skills are folders containing a `SKILL.md` file with frontmatter and optional bundled assets. Hooks are folders containing a `README.md` with frontmatter and a `hooks.json` configuration file:
+All agent files (`*.agent.md`) and instruction files (`*.instructions.md`) must include proper markdown front matter. Agent Skills are folders containing a `SKILL.md` file with frontmatter and optional bundled assets. Hooks are folders containing a `README.md` with frontmatter and a `hooks.json` configuration file:
 
 #### Agent Files (*.agent.md)
 - Must have `description` field (wrapped in single quotes)
 - File names should be lower case with words separated by hyphens
 - Recommended to include `tools` field
 - Strongly recommended to specify `model` field
 
-#### Prompt Files (*.prompt.md)
-- Must have `agent` field (value should be `'agent'` wrapped in single quotes)
-- Must have `description` field (wrapped in single quotes, not empty)
-- File names should be lower case with words separated by hyphens
-- Recommended to specify `tools` if applicable
-- Strongly recommended to specify `model` field
-
 #### Instruction Files (*.instructions.md)
 - Must have `description` field (wrapped in single quotes, not empty)
 - Must have `applyTo` field specifying file patterns (e.g., `'**.js, **.ts'`)
@@ -118,9 +109,9 @@ All agent files (`*.agent.md`), prompt files (`*.prompt.md`), and instruction fi
 
 ### Adding New Resources
 
-When adding a new agent, prompt, instruction, skill, hook, workflow, or plugin:
+When adding a new agent, instruction, skill, hook, workflow, or plugin:
 
-**For Agents, Prompts, and Instructions:**
+**For Agents and Instructions:**
 1. Create the file with proper front matter
 2. Add the file to the appropriate directory
 3. Update the README.md by running: `npm run build`
@@ -205,7 +196,7 @@ When creating a pull request:
 3. **File naming**: Verify all new files follow the lower-case-with-hyphens naming convention
 4. **Build check**: Run `npm run build` before committing to verify README generation
 5. **Line endings**: **Always run `bash scripts/fix-line-endings.sh`** to normalize line endings to LF (Unix-style)
-6. **Description**: Provide a clear description of what your agent/prompt/instruction does
+6. **Description**: Provide a clear description of what your agent/instruction does
 7. **Testing**: If adding a plugin, run `npm run plugin:validate` to ensure validity
 
 ### Pre-commit Checklist
@@ -220,13 +211,6 @@ Before submitting your PR, ensure you have:
 
 ### Code Review Checklist
 
-For prompt files (*.prompt.md):
-- [ ] Has markdown front matter
-- [ ] Has `agent` field (value should be `'agent'` wrapped in single quotes)
-- [ ] Has non-empty `description` field wrapped in single quotes
-- [ ] File name is lower case with hyphens
-- [ ] Includes `model` field (strongly recommended)
-
 For instruction files (*.instructions.md):
 - [ ] Has markdown front matter
 - [ ] Has non-empty `description` field wrapped in single quotes
@@ -291,7 +275,7 @@ This is a community-driven project. Contributions are welcome! Please see:
 
 ## MCP Server
 
-The repository includes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server that provides prompts for searching and installing resources directly from this repository. Docker is required to run the server.
+The repository includes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server for searching and installing resources directly from this repository. Docker is required to run the server.
 
 ## License
 

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Contributing to Awesome GitHub Copilot
 
-Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Awesome GitHub Copilot repository! We welcome contributions from the community to help expand our collection of custom instructions and prompts.
+Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Awesome GitHub Copilot repository! We welcome contributions from the community to help expand our collection of custom instructions and skills.
 
 ## Table of Contents
 
@@ -52,35 +52,7 @@ description: 'Instructions for customizing GitHub Copilot behavior for specific
 - Any additional context or examples
 ```
 
-### Adding Prompts
-
-Prompts are ready-to-use templates for specific development scenarios and tasks.
-
-1. **Create your prompt file**: Add a new `.prompt.md` file in the `prompts/` directory
-2. **Follow the naming convention**: Use descriptive, lowercase filenames with hyphens and the `.prompt.md` extension (e.g., `react-component-generator.prompt.md`)
-3. **Include frontmatter**: Add metadata at the top of your file (optional but recommended)
-4. **Structure your prompt**: Provide clear context and specific instructions
-
-#### Example prompt format
-
-```markdown
----
-agent: 'agent'
-tools: ['codebase', 'terminalCommand']
-description: 'Brief description of what this prompt does'
----
-
-# Prompt Title
-
-Your goal is to...
-
-## Specific Instructions
-
-- Clear, actionable instructions
-- Include examples where helpful
-```
-
-### Adding Agents
+### Adding an Agent
 
 Agents are specialized configurations that transform GitHub Copilot Chat into domain-specific assistants or personas for particular development scenarios.
 
@@ -132,7 +104,7 @@ Skills are self-contained folders in the `skills/` directory that include a `SKI
 
 ### Adding Plugins
 
-Plugins group related agents, commands (prompts), and skills around specific themes or workflows, making it easy for users to install comprehensive toolkits via GitHub Copilot CLI.
+Plugins group related agents, commands, and skills around specific themes or workflows, making it easy for users to install comprehensive toolkits via GitHub Copilot CLI.
 
 1. **Create your plugin**: Run `npm run plugin:create` to scaffold a new plugin
 2. **Follow the naming convention**: Use descriptive, lowercase folder names with hyphens (e.g., `python-web-development`)
@@ -273,13 +245,13 @@ Create a daily summary of open issues for the team.
 
 1. **Fork this repository**
 2. **Create a new branch** for your contribution
-3. **Add your instruction, prompt file, chatmode, workflow, or plugin** following the guidelines above
+3. **Add your instruction, skills, agents, workflow, or plugin** following the guidelines above
 4. **Run the update script**: `npm start` to update the README with your new file (make sure you run `npm install` first if you haven't already)
    - A GitHub Actions workflow will verify that this step was performed correctly
    - If the README.md would be modified by running the script, the PR check will fail with a comment showing the required changes
 5. **Submit a pull request** targeting the `staged` branch with:
    - A clear title describing your contribution
-   - A brief description of what your instruction/prompt does
+   - A brief description of what your instruction/skill/agent does
    - Any relevant context or usage notes
 
 > [!IMPORTANT]
@@ -314,7 +286,7 @@ To maintain a safe, responsible, and constructive community, we will **not accep
 ## Quality Guidelines
 
 - **Be specific**: Generic instructions are less helpful than specific, actionable guidance
-- **Test your content**: Ensure your instructions or prompts work well with GitHub Copilot
+- **Test your content**: Ensure your instructions or skills work well with GitHub Copilot
 - **Follow conventions**: Use consistent formatting and naming
 - **Keep it focused**: Each file should address a specific technology, framework, or use case
 - **Write clearly**: Use simple, direct language
@@ -339,7 +311,6 @@ We welcome many kinds of contributions, including the custom categories below:
 | Category | Description | Emoji |
 | --- | --- | :---: |
 | **Instructions** | Custom instruction sets that guide GitHub Copilot behavior | 🧭 |
-| **Prompts** | Reusable or one-off prompts for GitHub Copilot | ⌨️ |
 | **Agents** | Defined GitHub Copilot roles or personalities | 🎭 |
 | **Skills** | Specialized knowledge of a task for GitHub Copilot | 🧰 |
 | **Workflows** | Agentic Workflows for AI-powered repository automation | ⚡ |