Installation Guide

This guide covers how to install GitHub Copilot on various platforms with a focus on Linux environments.

Prerequisites

  • GitHub account with Copilot subscription (individual or enterprise)

  • Internet connection

VS Code Installation

Standard Linux Installation

  1. Open VS Code

  2. Navigate to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)

  3. Search for "GitHub Copilot"

  4. Click "Install"

  5. After installation, click "Sign in" and authenticate with your GitHub account

# Alternatively, you can install via the command line
code --install-extension GitHub.copilot

NixOS Installation

For NixOS users, you can add GitHub Copilot to your system configuration:

  1. Add VS Code with the Copilot extension to your configuration.nix:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    (vscode-with-extensions.override {
      vscodeExtensions = with vscode-extensions; [
        github.copilot
        # Add other extensions as needed
      ];
    })
  ];
}

  1. Alternatively, using Home Manager:

{ config, pkgs, ... }:

{
  programs.vscode = {
    enable = true;
    extensions = with pkgs.vscode-extensions; [
      github.copilot
      # Other extensions
    ];
  };
}

  1. Apply the configuration:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch  # For system-wide configuration
home-manager switch        # For Home Manager configuration

WSL Installation

GitHub Copilot in WSL works through VS Code's remote development:

  1. Install VS Code on your Windows host system

  2. Install the "Remote - WSL" extension in VS Code

  3. Open VS Code, connect to your WSL instance

  4. Once connected to WSL, install the GitHub Copilot extension

  5. Sign in to GitHub when prompted

JetBrains IDEs Installation

  1. Open your JetBrains IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, etc.)

  2. Go to File > Settings > Plugins (or Preferences > Plugins on macOS)

  3. Search for "GitHub Copilot"

  4. Click "Install"

  5. Restart the IDE when prompted

  6. Sign in to GitHub when prompted after restart

GitHub Copilot CLI Installation

The GitHub Copilot CLI provides AI-powered assistance directly in your terminal.

Standard Linux Installation

# Install with npm
npm install -g @githubnext/github-copilot-cli

# Authenticate
gh auth login
gh copilot auth login

NixOS Installation

For NixOS users, you can create a custom package or use a flake:

# In your flake.nix
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    # Add other inputs as needed
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs }: {
    # Define your outputs
    devShell.x86_64-linux = with nixpkgs.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux; mkShell {
      buildInputs = [
        nodejs_20
        nodePackages.npm
      ];
      shellHook = ''
        if ! command -v gh-copilot &> /dev/null; then
          echo "Installing GitHub Copilot CLI..."
          npm install -g @githubnext/github-copilot-cli
        fi
      '';
    };
  };
}

WSL Installation

In your WSL Linux distribution:

# Install Node.js and npm
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nodejs npm

# Install GitHub CLI
curl -fsSL https://cli.github.com/packages/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg] https://cli.github.com/packages stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/github-cli.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y gh

# Install GitHub Copilot CLI
npm install -g @githubnext/github-copilot-cli

# Authenticate
gh auth login
gh copilot auth login

Verification

To verify that GitHub Copilot is properly installed:

VS Code

  1. Open a code file in a supported language

  2. Start typing a comment describing what you want to do

  3. Copilot should offer suggestions that you can accept with Tab

CLI

Run the following command to verify the CLI installation:

gh copilot explain "ls -la | grep '^d'"

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Authentication Problems

    • Ensure you have an active GitHub Copilot subscription

    • Try signing out and signing back in

  2. No Suggestions Appearing

    • Check if the extension is enabled

    • Verify your internet connection

    • Try restarting your editor

  3. NixOS-Specific Issues

    • Ensure your Nix expression is properly configured

    • Check if you're using a compatible version of VS Code

  4. WSL Connectivity Issues

    • Verify that your Windows host can connect to the internet

    • Check if the VS Code server is properly installed in WSL

Getting Help

PreviousCopilotNextVS Code Integration

Last updated