copilot-sdk

GitHub Copilot SDK for Python

The GitHub Copilot SDK is a multi-platform SDK for integrating GitHub Copilot Agent into apps and services. It exposes the same engine behind Copilot CLI, providing a production-tested agent runtime you can invoke programmatically.

Note: This SDK is in technical preview and may change in breaking ways.

Reference

• Code Snippets: scripts/
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/github/copilot-sdk
• PyPI Package: https://pypi.org/project/github-copilot-sdk/

Prerequisites

1. GitHub Copilot Subscription: Required
2. Copilot CLI: Must be installed (gh extension install github/gh-copilot)
3. Authentication: Must be logged into GitHub CLI (gh auth login)

Installation

uv pip install github-copilot-sdk

Architecture

Your Application
       |
  SDK Client (Python)
       | JSON-RPC
  Copilot CLI (server mode)

API Reference

CopilotClient Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
cli_path	str	"copilot"	Path to CLI executable
cli_url	str	None	URL of existing CLI server
cwd	str	None	Working directory for CLI process
port	int	0	Server port (0 = random)
use_stdio	bool	True	Use stdio transport
auto_start	bool	True	Auto-start server
auto_restart	bool	True	Auto-restart on crash

CopilotClient Methods

Method	Description
await client.start()	Start the CLI server
await client.stop()	Stop the CLI server
await client.create_session(config)	Create a conversation session
await client.resume_session(session_id)	Resume existing session
await client.get_models()	Get available models

SessionConfig

Option	Type	Description
model	str	Model to use ("gpt-5", "claude-sonnet-4.5", etc.)
tools	list[Tool]	Custom tools exposed to the CLI
streaming	bool	Enable streaming responses
mcp_servers	dict	MCP server configurations

Event Types

Event Type	Description
assistant.message	Final assistant message
assistant.message_delta	Streaming message chunk
session.idle	Session finished processing
tool.call	Tool invocation
error	Error event

Available Models

• gpt-4.1, gpt-5, claude-sonnet-4.5, o3-mini, gemini-2.5-pro

Basic Usage

import asyncio
from copilot import CopilotClient

async def main():
    client = CopilotClient()
    await client.start()
    session = await client.create_session({"model": "gpt-4.1"})
    response = await session.send_and_wait({"prompt": "What is Python?"})
    print(response.data.content)
    await session.destroy()
    await client.stop()

asyncio.run(main())