Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
GitHub Copilot CLI lacks support for user-defined slash commands. Users cannot create reusable, invokable prompts without building a VS Code extension. Claude Code allows this by dropping .md files in ~/.claude/commands/ — each file becomes a /command. GitHub Copilot has no equivalent.
Proposed solution
Allow users to create custom slash commands by adding markdown files to a designated folder (e.g., or .github/commands/) or simply reuse the existing .github/prompts/.)
Benefits:
- Enables reusable workflows without extension development
- Reduces repetitive prompt typing
- Aligns with existing prompt file patterns (copilot-instructions.md)
- Lowers barrier for team-wide prompt standardization
Example prompts or workflows
/debug — Systematic debugging workflow: generate hypotheses, add logging, test assumptions
/commit-smart — Generate contextual commit messages based on staged changes
/refactor — Run cleanup with dead code detection and simplification
/review — Code review checklist with security and performance checks
/transfer-context — Summarize current session for handoff to new chat
Additional context
- Claude Code has shipped this as a first-class feature
- Current workaround (referencing .github/prompts/*.md in root instructions manually) is clunky and is very poor CLI UX and doesn't lead to true reusability or accurate triggering.
- Could leverage existing instruction file parsing infrastructure
- Repo-level commands (.github/copilot/commands/) (or /prompts) would enable team sharing.
Here's an excellent article on why having / slash commands are immensely impactful with AI CLI tools like Claude code and how it and greatly improve the GitHub Copilot CLI: https://blog.silennai.com/claude-code.
Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
GitHub Copilot CLI lacks support for user-defined slash commands. Users cannot create reusable, invokable prompts without building a VS Code extension. Claude Code allows this by dropping .md files in ~/.claude/commands/ — each file becomes a /command. GitHub Copilot has no equivalent.
Proposed solution
Allow users to create custom slash commands by adding markdown files to a designated folder (e.g., or .github/commands/) or simply reuse the existing .github/prompts/.)
Benefits:
Example prompts or workflows
/debug — Systematic debugging workflow: generate hypotheses, add logging, test assumptions
/commit-smart — Generate contextual commit messages based on staged changes
/refactor — Run cleanup with dead code detection and simplification
/review — Code review checklist with security and performance checks
/transfer-context — Summarize current session for handoff to new chat
Additional context
Here's an excellent article on why having / slash commands are immensely impactful with AI CLI tools like Claude code and how it and greatly improve the GitHub Copilot CLI: https://blog.silennai.com/claude-code.