Allison explains how developers can use GitHub CLI 2.80.0 to manage Copilot coding agent sessions, enabling background code automation and review through new command-line integrations.

Kick off and Track Copilot Coding Agent Sessions from the GitHub CLI

The Copilot coding agent is an asynchronous, autonomous background agent provided by GitHub. With this agent, developers can delegate coding tasks to Copilot, which will automatically create a draft pull request, make required code changes in the background, and request a review when ready.

GitHub CLI 2.80.0 Release Highlights

A significant new feature in GitHub CLI 2.80.0 is the introduction of the agent-task command set. This enables efficient management of coding agent tasks directly from the command line interface (gh).

Key Commands

  • Start a new task:

    gh agent-task create "refactor the codebase"

  • List all your tasks:

    gh agent-task list

  • View task details:

    gh agent-task view 1234

  • View task logs in real time:

    gh agent-task view 1234 --log --follow

Command Aliases

The agent-task feature includes several aliases for added convenience:

  • gh agent-tasks
  • gh agent
  • gh agents

To explore more command-line options, flags, and arguments, use:

gh agent-task --help

How It Works

  1. Task Delegation: Assign work to Copilot using the CLI. Copilot handles the coding in the background.
  2. Draft Pull Requests: As part of the workflow, Copilot opens draft PRs representing the agent’s progress.
  3. Automated Code Changes: The coding agent applies changes and lets you review them before completing the workflow.
  4. Task Monitoring: Keep track of ongoing agent activity and view logs at any time from the CLI.

Why Use Copilot Coding Agent via CLI?

  • Automate repetitive or large-scale code changes.
  • Streamline the software development and review process.
  • Centralize AI-powered code tasks and their progress within your favorite CLI tools.
  • Increase developer productivity through seamless background operations.

Resources

This post appeared first on “The GitHub Blog”. Read the entire article here