【Small Tip】Turning GitHub Copilot Chat into a CLI using PyAutoGUI

Created date: 2025/06/28, Update date: 2025/06/28

GitHub Copilot Chat is an AI-powered code completion feature provided by GitHub.
By using GitHub Copilot Chat, you can perform code completion and modifications.
However, GitHub Copilot Chat is offered as a VSCode extension, and as of June 2025, it is not available as a GitHub CLI command.
In this article, I introduce a method to turn GitHub Copilot Chat into a CLI using PyAutoGUI.
I have named it GitHub Copilot CLI, but please note that this is an unofficial tool and does not fully replicate the features of GitHub Copilot Chat.
This method is highly environment-dependent and has limited use cases, so please use it at your own risk.

Table of Contents

GitHub Copilot CLI: Screenshots
Prerequisites and Notes
Setup Steps
How to Run
1. 1. Run with CLI options
2. 2. Batch execution using spec.yml

GitHub Copilot CLI: Screenshots

The source code is available at the following GitHub repository:

kanji-shinohara/github-copilot-cli

You can see the operation image of automating the custom CLI tool github-copilot-cli with PyAutoGUI in the following videos:

<Video: Operating GitHub Copilot Chat from CLI options>

Operating GitHub Copilot Chat from CLI options

<Video: Batch execution by specifying repositories in spec.yml>

Batch execution by specifying repositories in spec.yml

Prerequisites and Notes

The prerequisites for running github-copilot-cli are as follows:

OS & Environment
- macOS (PyAutoGUI also works on Windows/Linux, but this script is set to work only on macOS)
- Python 3.8 or later
- pip, git, gh CLI (GitHub CLI)
- Visual Studio Code (installed as an application)
VSCode

This script automatically launches “VSCode (standard edition)”.
If you want to use VSCode Insiders, change the launch path in the open_vscode_with_file function in exec_github_copilot_chat.py to "/Applications/Visual Studio Code - Insiders.app" .
The following keybindings must be set in VSCode:
- Open GitHub Copilot Chat panel: command + shift + i (default)
- Start a new chat in GitHub Copilot Chat: ctrl + l (default)
- Approve in GitHub Copilot Chat: command + enter (default)
- Close all tabs: command + k → command + w (default)
- Save all files: command + k → a

Required Python packages
- PyAutoGUI
- PyYAML
- Pillow
- pytesseract
- pygetwindow
Mac permissions
- When running the script, you may be prompted to grant permissions in Mac’s security settings. If prompted, stop the script once and grant the necessary permissions.

requirements.txt :

PyAutoGUI
PyYAML
pillow
pytesseract
pygetwindow

Notes on using this CLI:

Prompts posted to GitHub Copilot Chat are only supported in English.
Screen operations by PyAutoGUI may interfere with other work. Please refrain from other operations while running.
Since OCR (pytesseract) is used to detect the completion of GitHub Copilot Chat responses, be careful with multi-display environments and window arrangements.
Depending on the environment, the waiting time before execution may not be appropriate. Adjust the sleep seconds in config.yml as needed.
Automation may stop working due to changes in the version or UI of the GitHub Copilot Chat extension.
Please check the authentication and subscription status of gh CLI and GitHub Copilot in advance to ensure they are working.
If a popup appears at the bottom right after launching VSCode, you need to change the VSCode settings to hide the popup. For example, recommended extensions or error notifications at startup may appear. These popups may affect OCR.

There are various caveats, so you need to understand these and modify the script as needed. Since this tool is difficult to maintain, if you cannot modify the script yourself, it may be better to wait until an official CLI is provided.

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository

gh repo clone kanji-shinohara/github-copilot-cli
cd github-copilot-cli

2. Create a Python virtual environment and install packages

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set up gh CLI

brew install gh  # or install by official instructions
gh auth login

4. Install VSCode and Copilot Chat extension

Please install VSCode and the Copilot Chat extension.
Do not use any Japanese localization plugins, as GitHub Copilot Chat prompt completion is only supported in English.

5. Adjust config.yml (optional)

You can adjust sleep seconds and other settings in github_copilot_cli/config/config.yml .

How to Run

There are two ways to run github-copilot-cli : specifying the Copilot Chat operation via CLI options, or batch execution using spec.yml .

1. Run with CLI options

python github_copilot_cli.py \
--file <file path> \
--working_directory <working directory> \
--chat_message "<chat message>"

Example:

python github_copilot_cli.py \
--file README.md \
--working_directory /Users/user01/Desktop/github-copilot-cli \
--chat_message "Write the README for this repository."

2. Batch execution using spec.yml

python github_copilot_cli.py \
--spec_file <path to spec.yml>

Example:

python github_copilot_cli.py \
--spec_file spec.yml