Can’t use Claude at work? How I recreated “Skills” in GitHub Copilot

The text explores how the author sought to emulate the functionality of Claude Skills, specialized instruction sets for AI assistants, within the GitHub Copilot environment. While Claude Skills offer modular context management to make AI tools more efficient by reducing context-switching and improving response accuracy, companies often rely on GitHub Copilot due to existing infrastructure or security policies. The author describes the creation of a workflow using Copilot’s Instructions file, allowing for domain-specific guidelines to be loaded only when necessary, similar to how Claude Skills operate. This method aims to enhance efficiency by managing the context window, reducing AI hallucinations, and offering a more focused developer experience. The author also touches on alternative features in the Microsoft Copilot ecosystem, such as Copilot Studio and Declarative Agents, for those who seek Claude-like skills within Microsoft products. Reflecting on the strategy, the author notes challenges like ensuring instruction files are correctly loaded and suggests that more robust solutions may be necessary for real-world applications.