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[bot] Add Critic Agent, new hook events, MCP auth & built-in skills (CLI v1.0.15–v1.0.18) #33

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[bot] Add Critic Agent, new hook events, MCP auth & built-in skills (CLI v1.0.15–v1.0.18) #33

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84 changes: 84 additions & 0 deletions README.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ For detailed documentation, see the [Further Reading](#further-reading) section
│ Running Parallel Auto-delegates work; /fleet for explicit │
│ Tasks & /fleet parallel execution via subagents │
│ Autopilot Mode Hands-off autonomous task completion (CLI) │
│ Critic Agent Second-opinion plan & code review (CLI) │
│ Coding Agent Autonomous cloud agent — issues in, PRs out │
│ Agentic Workflows Automate repo tasks via GitHub Actions + AI │
│ Mission Control Dashboard to manage coding agents at scale │
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -94,6 +95,7 @@ For detailed documentation, see the [Further Reading](#further-reading) section
- [Agentic Features](#agentic-features)
- [Running Parallel Tasks](#running-parallel-tasks)
- [Autopilot Mode](#autopilot-mode)
- [Critic Agent](#critic-agent)
- [Copilot Coding Agent](#copilot-coding-agent)
- [Agentic Workflows](#agentic-workflows)
- [Mission Control](#mission-control)
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -253,6 +255,8 @@ When creating or modifying database tables.

**Effect:** When Copilot detects a task related to migrations, it loads this skill automatically. Works across CLI, VS Code, and the coding agent.

> 💡 **Built-in skills:** The Copilot CLI ships with built-in skills out of the box (e.g., a guide for customizing the coding agent environment). Check `~/.copilot/skills/` after installation to see what's included.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Scope** | Auto-loaded when the task domain matches |
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -307,6 +311,27 @@ When creating or modifying database tables.
| **Security** | Servers run locally — your credentials stay on your machine |
| **OAuth / API keys** | MCP servers can request you to visit a URL for out-of-band auth flows (e.g. OAuth, API key entry) |

#### Authenticating with MCP servers (CLI)

Use `/mcp auth <server>` to authenticate with an MCP server. The CLI supports OAuth redirect URIs and falls back to **device code flow** ([RFC 8628](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8628)) when the redirect URI approach isn't available — for example, with providers like Slack that require HTTPS.

```
> /mcp auth slack
→ Opening device authorization URL…
→ Enter code XXXX-XXXX at https://slack.com/device
```

#### Managing persistent server config via RPCs

The CLI exposes `mcp.config` server RPCs for programmatic management of persistent MCP server configurations:

| RPC | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `mcp.config.list` | List all configured MCP servers |
| `mcp.config.add` | Add a new server to persistent config |
| `mcp.config.update` | Update an existing server's configuration |
| `mcp.config.remove` | Remove a server from persistent config |

---

### Hooks
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -343,6 +368,10 @@ Custom scripts that run automatically at specific lifecycle events — like pre-

| Event | Trigger |
|---|---|
| `preToolUse` | Before a tool is executed — set `permissionDecision: 'allow'` to suppress the approval prompt |
| `postToolUse` | After a tool succeeds |
| `postToolUseFailure` | After a tool fails (note: `postToolUse` only fires on success) |
| `notification` | Fires asynchronously on shell completion, permission prompts, elicitation dialogs, and agent completion |
| `post-edit` | After Copilot edits a file |
| `pre-commit` | Before a git commit |
| `startup` | When a CLI session starts — auto-submits a prompt or slash command |
Expand All @@ -351,6 +380,9 @@ Custom scripts that run automatically at specific lifecycle events — like pre-

- Use `"command"` as a **cross-platform alias** for `bash`/`powershell` shell commands — works on all platforms without separate entries
- `"timeout"` is accepted as an alias for `"timeoutSec"` for readable config
- In `preToolUse` hooks, returning `permissionDecision: 'allow'` suppresses the interactive tool approval prompt
- `postToolUse` fires **only on success** — use `postToolUseFailure` to handle tool errors separately
- `notification` hooks run **asynchronously** and do not block execution; useful for logging or sending alerts
- Personal hooks (`~/.copilot/hooks/`) apply across all repos; repo-level hooks (`.github/hooks/`) are scoped to that repo

| | |
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -603,6 +635,57 @@ Autopilot and `/fleet` are independent features that combine well. A common work

---

### Critic Agent

A built-in agent that automatically reviews plans and complex implementations using a **complementary model** — providing a second opinion to catch errors before you commit to a direction.

> **When you need it:** You want an automatic peer review of plans or implementations without having to ask for one. Catching logical errors at the plan stage is far cheaper than discovering them mid-implementation.

The Critic agent runs in **experimental mode** for Claude models. Enable it in your CLI settings:

```jsonc
// ~/.copilot/settings.json
{
"experimental": {
"critic": true
}
}
```

**How it works:**
1. You submit a plan or complex implementation request
2. The primary model generates the plan or implementation
3. The Critic agent automatically sends it to a complementary model for review
4. Disagreements and potential errors surface before execution continues

<details markdown>
<summary>Example — Critic catches an issue in a RecipeShare migration plan</summary>

```
> Plan a migration to add soft-delete to all RecipeShare tables

[Primary model] Plan: Add deleted_at NULLABLE column to recipes,
ingredients, and reviews tables. Update queries to filter WHERE
deleted_at IS NULL.

[Critic] ⚠️ Plan gap detected: The Drizzle schema types in
src/server/db/schema.ts are not included in the migration plan.
Without updating the TypeScript types, TypeScript strict mode will
raise errors on the new nullable column. Recommend adding a step
to update schema types before running migrations.
```

</details>

| | |
|---|---|
| **Where** | Copilot CLI |
| **Status** | Experimental — available for Claude models |
| **Trigger** | Automatic on plans and complex implementations |
| **Difference from code review** | Runs *before* execution, not after — catches plan-level errors early |

---

### Copilot Coding Agent

GitHub's autonomous agent that picks up issues, creates branches, and opens PRs — **without a chat session**. It runs on GitHub's cloud infrastructure, not your machine.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -971,6 +1054,7 @@ Based on [lessons from 2,500+ repositories](https://github.blog/ai-and-ml/github
| **Plugins** | Bundled agent toolkits | `plugin.json` manifest | When sharing agent setups across repos |
| **Running Parallel Tasks / `/fleet`** | Auto-delegates or explicitly fans out work to subagents | *(runtime capability)* / `/fleet` slash command | When your request has multiple independent jobs |
| **Autopilot Mode** | Hands-off autonomous task completion | Copilot CLI (`--autopilot` / Shift+Tab) | When you want Copilot to work to completion without interaction |
| **Critic Agent** | Auto second-opinion review of plans & implementations | Copilot CLI (experimental, Claude models) | When you want automatic error-catching before execution |
| **Coding Agent** | Autonomous cloud agent | GitHub infrastructure | When you want async issue automation |
| **Agentic Workflows** | AI + GitHub Actions automation | GitHub Actions | When you want automated repo maintenance |
| **Mission Control** | Multi-agent dashboard | GitHub.com / VS Code | When managing agents at scale |
Expand Down