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DDEV GitHub Copilot CLI

Overview

This DDEV add-on installs GitHub Copilot CLI inside the DDEV web container and automatically shares your host GitHub CLI and Copilot configuration — including authentication and Copilot settings — with no additional setup required.

Once installed, running copilot inside ddev ssh or ddev exec uses a writable copy of your host configuration and a token derived from your host gh authentication.

Requirements

DDEV >= v1.24.0
GitHub CLI (gh) authenticated on the host (for configuration sharing and COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN)

Installation

ddev add-on get e0ipso/ddev-assistant-copilot
ddev restart

After installation, commit the .ddev directory to version control.

What it does

Installs GitHub CLI into the container image via the official apt repository, on $PATH for every shell
Installs GitHub Copilot CLI on every start via npm install -g @github/copilot into ~/.local/bin (warns and continues if npm install fails)
Seeds host configuration on start: your host ~/.config/gh/ and ~/.copilot/ trees are mounted read-only under ~/.cred-seed/, then mirrored into the writable container directories on every restart:
- ~/.config/gh/ — GitHub CLI configuration and authentication (e.g. hosts.yml)
- ~/.copilot/ — Copilot CLI configuration (e.g. config.json, hooks)
Exports COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN on shell startup from in-container gh auth token when available, while preserving any token explicitly injected into the container environment. Interactive shells (.bashrc, .profile) and non-interactive shells (/etc/bash.env via BASH_ENV) run the lookup dynamically instead of storing the literal token value. The add-on defaults token lookup to github.com and supports an optional configured GitHub username for multi-account setups.
Available everywhere — gh and copilot are on $PATH for both interactive shells (ddev ssh) and non-interactive commands (ddev exec)

Multi-account configuration

The add-on ships with this non-secret default:

web_environment:
  - DDEV_ASSISTANT_COPILOT_GH_HOSTNAME=github.com
  # - DDEV_ASSISTANT_COPILOT_GH_USER=your-github-username

Use this when you have multiple GitHub accounts, such as a personal account and a work account, authenticated for the same host. Uncomment and set DDEV_ASSISTANT_COPILOT_GH_USER in your installed .ddev/config.assistant-copilot.yaml to tell the add-on which account should provide COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN.

If either variable is empty or removed, the add-on does not pass that option to gh auth token, allowing GitHub CLI’s default account/host selection to apply.

Usage

# Open a shell with Copilot CLI available
ddev ssh
copilot

# Run Copilot CLI non-interactively
ddev exec copilot --version

# GitHub CLI is also available
ddev exec gh auth status

Why not manual setup?

You can install Copilot CLI and gh inside a DDEV container yourself. This add-on automates the parts that are easy to get wrong or forget:

	This add-on	Manual setup
GitHub CLI	Installed in the image layer via official apt repo; on `$PATH` for every shell	Must install and re-install after image rebuilds
Copilot CLI	`npm install -g @github/copilot` on every start into `~/.local/bin`	Must run npm install manually; easy to lose on restart
Config approach	Seeds writable container `~/.config/gh/` and `~/.copilot/` from your host config on restart — zero setup if you already use `gh` and Copilot on the host	Must copy or symlink config by hand; stale container files persist
Authentication	`COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` exported automatically from in-container `gh auth token` when available, with optional hostname/user selection and without writing literal tokens into shell startup files	Must export token manually in every shell type
Non-interactive shells	`BASH_ENV=/etc/bash.env` ensures `ddev exec` gets PATH and token	`ddev exec` often misses PATH and env vars
Mount safety	Pre-start hook ensures host config directories exist before Docker bind-mounts them	Bind-mount fails silently or blocks start if dirs are missing
Tests / CI	BATS integration tests, GitHub Actions CI matrix (DDEV stable + HEAD), daily scheduled runs	No automated verification

This add-on does one thing: install GitHub Copilot CLI into your DDEV container and share your existing host configuration. Nothing else.

Credits

Contributed and maintained by @e0ipso

If you find this add-on useful, please star it on GitHub — stars show appreciation and help maintainers know their work matters.