GitHub Copilot Coding Agent — Issue → Draft PR automation

If you add the

ai-copilot

label to an issue, GitHub Actions automatically assigns it to Copilot,

and Copilot creates a branch → writes code → opens a Draft PR.

When to use this skill

When PMs/designers create issues and Copilot starts implementation without a developer

When offloading backlog issues (refactors/docs/tests) to Copilot

When delegating follow-up work created by Vibe Kanban / Conductor to Copilot

When automating pipelines like Jira → GitHub Issue → Copilot PR

Prerequisites

GitHub plan

Copilot Pro+, Business, or Enterprise

Copilot Coding Agent enabled

Must be enabled in repo settings

gh CLI

Authenticated

PAT

Personal Access Token with repo scope One-time setup

One-click setup (register token + deploy workflow + create label)

bash scripts/copilot-setup-workflow.sh This script does: Register COPILOT_ASSIGN_TOKEN as a repo secret Deploy .github/workflows/assign-to-copilot.yml Create the ai-copilot label Usage Option 1: GitHub Actions automation (recommended)

Create issue + ai-copilot label → auto-assign Copilot

gh issue create \ --label ai-copilot \ --title "Add user authentication" \ --body "Implement JWT-based auth with refresh tokens. Include login, logout, refresh endpoints." Option 2: Add a label to an existing issue

Add label to issue #42 → trigger Actions

gh issue edit 42 --add-label ai-copilot Option 3: Assign directly via script export COPILOT_ASSIGN_TOKEN = < your-pat

bash scripts/copilot-assign-issue.sh 42 How it works (technical) Issue created/labeled ↓ GitHub Actions triggered (assign-to-copilot.yml) ↓ Look up Copilot bot ID via GraphQL ↓ replaceActorsForAssignable → set Copilot as assignee ↓ Copilot Coding Agent starts processing the issue ↓ Create branch → write code → open Draft PR ↓ Auto-assign you as PR reviewer Required GraphQL header: GraphQL-Features: issues_copilot_assignment_api_support,coding_agent_model_selection GitHub Actions workflows Workflow Trigger Purpose assign-to-copilot.yml Issue labeled ai-copilot Auto-assign to Copilot copilot-pr-ci.yml PR open/update Run CI (build + tests) Copilot PR limitations Copilot is treated like an external contributor . PRs are created as Draft by default Before the first Actions run, a manual approval from someone with write access is required After approval, copilot-pr-ci.yml CI runs normally

Check CI after manual approval

gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/' gh pr view < pr-number

planno (plannotator) integration — optional Review the issue spec in planno before assigning to Copilot (independent skill, not required): Review and approve this issue spec in planno After approval, add the ai-copilot label → trigger Actions. Common use cases 1. Label-based Copilot queue PM writes an issue → add ai-copilot label → Actions auto-assigns → Copilot creates Draft PR → Team only performs PR review 2. Combined with Vibe Kanban / Conductor Follow-up issues created by Vibe Kanban: refactors/docs cleanup/add tests → ai-copilot label → Copilot handles → Team focuses on main feature development 3. External system integration Jira issue → Zapier/webhook → auto-create GitHub Issue → ai-copilot label → Copilot PR → Fully automated pipeline 4. Refactoring backlog processing

Bulk-add label to backlog issues

gh issue list --label "tech-debt" --json number \ | jq '.[].number' \ | xargs -I { } gh issue edit { } --add-label ai-copilot Check results

List PRs created by Copilot

gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/'

Specific issue status

gh issue view 42

PR CI status

gh pr checks < pr-number

References GitHub Copilot Coding Agent overview Ask Copilot to create a PR (GraphQL example) Official docs: assign Copilot to an issue Copilot PR permissions/limitations GitHub Copilot coding agent (VSCode docs) Quick Reference === Setup === bash scripts/copilot-setup-workflow.sh one-time setup === Issue assignment === gh issue create --label ai-copilot ... new issue + auto-assign gh issue edit --add-label ai-copilot existing issue bash scripts/copilot-assign-issue.sh manual assign === Verify results === gh pr list --search 'head:copilot/' Copilot PR list gh pr view PR details gh pr checks CI status === Constraints === Copilot Pro+/Business/Enterprise required First PR requires manual approval (treated as an external contributor) PAT: repo scope required