Setup guide / GitHub Copilot

Set up curio for GitHub Copilot.

Copilot reads skills from .github/skills, and from .claude/skills and .agents/skills too. Install curio's skill in the repository and Copilot can work on your workspace: in agent mode in your editor, in the Copilot CLI, and as the cloud agent on GitHub.

me@laptop:~/acme-workspace$ copilot

> Add a code endpoint to the workspace that lists the open supplier notices for a part. Build it and stage the commit.

  curio skills search "code endpoint"
  curio skills show add-code-endpoint
  curio cat /workspace/config/schemas/nodes/Part.cs
  curio put open-notices.cs /workspace/code/endpoints/open-notices.cs
  curio run -- build
  curio run -- commit -m "Open supplier notices for a part"
  curio commit approve --no-wait   # a person reviews it
  curio commit wait --timeout 120   # until they answer

GitHub Copilot · the session the steps below set up, played on this page

Set it up

Setup / 01

Four steps, once per project.

The agent gets a curio session and nothing more. Its edits wait in Sudo's sandbox, built against the workspace, until a person approves the commit.

01
Install curio

On the machine the agent works on. Skip this if curio is installed already.
Install script

The self-contained build for your system, checked against the release and put on your PATH. No .NET needed. Run it again to update.
Terminal

$ curl -fsSL https://curiosity.sh/install.sh | bash $ curio tui

PS> irm https://curiosity.sh/install.ps1 | iex PS> curio tui
Installs to ~/.curiosity/bin · read the script
.NET tool

With the .NET SDK installed, curio is a global tool. dotnet tool update keeps it current.
Terminal

$ dotnet tool install --global Curiosity.Shell $ curio tui
Or take the single file for your system from the releases
02
Sign in to your Studio

The browser signs you in with any login the workspace supports, SSO included. It needs a system administrator account. Leave the approve checkbox on the sign in page unticked, and every commit the agent stages waits for a person.
Terminal
```
$ curio login --server https://my-workspace.curiosity.ai
$ curio whoami
```
03
Install GitHub Copilot

In VS Code, agent mode is part of the Copilot extension. For the terminal, the Copilot CLI is an npm package that needs Node.js 22 or later. Run copilot and sign in with /login.
Terminal
```
$ npm install -g @github/copilot
$ cd my-project
$ copilot
```
The Copilot CLI is also on Homebrew and WinGet.

Installing the Copilot CLI, from GitHub
04
Give it curio's skill

curio skills install ./.github/skills writes .github/skills/curio/SKILL.md. Commit it, so the cloud agent finds it in every task.
Terminal
```
$ curio skills install ./.github/skills
$ git add .github/skills/curio
$ git commit -m "Add the curio skill"
```
Run it again to refresh the index of Sudo's skills. A copy you edited is kept unless you pass --force.

Installation and first run

In the cloud / 02

The Copilot cloud agent

The cloud agent works on GitHub Actions. Its setup steps install curio, and two Agents secrets sign it in. Use a token without the approve right, so approval stays with a person.

Install curio in .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml, in a job named copilot-setup-steps.

Add CURIOSITY_SERVER and CURIOSITY_TOKEN as Agents secrets in the repository's settings.

Add the workspace's domain to the agent's firewall allowlist.

.github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml

name: Copilot Setup Steps
on: workflow_dispatch
jobs:
  copilot-setup-steps:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - name: Install curio
        run: |
          curl -fsSL https://curiosity.sh/install.sh | CURIO_NO_MODIFY_PATH=1 bash
          echo "$HOME/.curiosity/bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"

Signing in from the environment

Use it / 03

Ask in your words. Approve in your browser.

Ask in agent mode or in copilot, or assign an issue to Copilot and let the cloud agent take it.

You ask

Add a code endpoint to the workspace that lists the open supplier notices for a part. Build it and stage the commit.

The agent reads the skill, then works through curio, one command at a time. You see each command; the last one waits for you.

What GitHub Copilot runs

$ curio skills search "code endpoint"
$ curio skills show add-code-endpoint
$ curio cat /workspace/config/schemas/nodes/Part.cs
$ curio put open-notices.cs /workspace/code/endpoints/open-notices.cs
$ curio run -- build
$ curio run -- commit -m "Open supplier notices for a part"
$ curio commit approve --no-wait   # a person reviews it
$ curio commit wait --timeout 120   # until they answer

Let the CLI run curio without asking

Start it with copilot --allow-tool 'shell(curio)'. Approval still waits for a person: the right to approve is the token's, not the agent's.

Exit codes mean something

curio run passes the sandbox command's exit code through. 77, 78, 75 and 64 mean not signed in, not allowed, conflict and usage, so the agent can tell a failed build from a missing sign in. 79 is a commit waiting for a person, and 124 is curio giving up waiting.

JSON, and no waiting forever

The skill has the agent pass --json for one line of JSON, --yes where a command asks, and --timeout on every call. A long build runs with curio run --detach and is picked up with curio run wait.

Never the interface

The skill tells the agent to never run curio tui. It is the full screen interface for people, and it would hang the agent's terminal. Plain curio only prints the help.

Re-read before overwriting

Sudo or an admin may edit the same session. curio get prints the file's hash, and curio put --expected-hash <hash> refuses the write if the file changed since.

Approval stays with a person

Signed in without the approve right, the default, curio commit approve --no-wait opens Sudo's review screen in the browser and exits 79 at once. curio commit wait then hears the answer, whatever the agent does.

Coding agents, in the docs

Other coding agents / 04