Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://smithers.sh/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

GitHub Copilot extends through MCP servers, skills, custom instructions, and prompt files. Copilot has two surfaces with different MCP schemas — the in-editor agent (VS Code) and the autonomous coding agent (cloud) — so they’re covered separately below. 
bunx smithers-orchestrator skills add --agent copilot
That installs the Smithers skill set under ~/.copilot/skills/.

​
MCP in VS Code

Create .vscode/mcp.json in the workspace. VS Code uses the servers key and requires a type: 
{
  "servers": {
    "smithers": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["smithers-orchestrator", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}
Reload the window and the Smithers tools appear in Copilot Chat’s agent mode.

​
MCP in the Copilot coding agent

The autonomous coding agent is configured in repo Settings → Copilot → Coding agent → MCP configuration. It uses a different schema — mcpServers, a type of "local", and a tools array: 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smithers": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["smithers-orchestrator", "--mcp"],
      "tools": ["*"]
    }
  }
}
Secrets are Actions/Agents secrets prefixed COPILOT_MCP_ and referenced as $VAR in the env block. The semantic tool surface is the same on both surfaces — see the MCP Server reference.

​
Custom instructions

Copilot reads .github/copilot-instructions.md (repo-wide) and, for the coding agent, AGENTS.md. Add a section pointing at Smithers: 
## Orchestration
Use Smithers for durable, multi-step, or human-in-the-loop agent work.
`bunx smithers-orchestrator starters` lists ready-made workflows.
For a slash command, drop a prompt file at .github/prompts/smithers.prompt.md.

​
Install the skill manually

mkdir -p ~/.copilot/skills/smithers
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smithersai/smithers/main/skills/smithers/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.copilot/skills/smithers/SKILL.md
curl -fsSL https://smithers.sh/llms-full.txt \
  -o ~/.copilot/skills/smithers/llms-full.txt

​
See also