Dellenny shares hands-on advice for mastering GitHub Copilot, focusing on effective prompts, IDE shortcuts, and workflow integration to help developers maximize productivity while maintaining code quality.

Mastering GitHub Copilot: Tips, Shortcuts, and Prompts That Work

GitHub Copilot has quickly become one of the most powerful coding assistants available to developers. Powered by AI, Copilot can autocomplete code, generate functions, create tests, and even help with documentation. To truly benefit from Copilot, it’s essential to master prompt techniques, workflows, and best practices. Here’s a comprehensive and practical guide for developers.

1. Writing Effective Prompts

Copilot’s capabilities are highly dependent on the quality of prompts. Consider these tips:

  • Be explicit: Provide clear instructions, such as:

    // Function to fetch data from an API and handle errors gracefully
  • Break down problems: Request one function or method at a time.
  • Use comments: Precede your code with descriptive comments to guide Copilot.
  • Leverage docstrings: For example: """Generate Fibonacci sequence up to n."""

2. Essential Shortcuts

Familiarize yourself with IDE-specific Copilot shortcuts:

In VS Code:

  • Tab to accept suggestions
  • Ctrl + ] or Alt + ] to cycle suggestions
  • Ctrl + Enter to open the Copilot panel
  • Ctrl + / to trigger inline suggestions

In JetBrains IDEs:

  • Alt + ] for next suggestion
  • Alt + [ for previous suggestion
  • Tab to accept

Mastering shortcuts increases your efficiency and makes Copilot more effective.

3. Best Practices for Daily Use

  • Pair Copilot with unit tests: Have Copilot generate tests to validate suggestions.
  • Always review generated code: Check for errors and vulnerabilities.
  • Use your judgement: Treat Copilot as a junior developer—fast, but in need of review.
  • Automate documentation and boilerplate: Copilot is excellent for repetitive tasks like docstrings and type hints.

4. Advanced Prompting Tricks

  • Translate code: Comment, e.g., // Convert this Python function into JavaScript.
  • Ask for code explanations: Copilot can generate descriptive inline comments.
  • Use structured comments: Outline step-by-step instructions to guide code generation.

5. When Not to Use Copilot

  • Avoid for sensitive or security-critical code without strict review.
  • Don’t rely on Copilot for complex, domain-specific algorithms.
  • Be mindful of code licensing—Copilot’s suggestions may resemble open-source code.

By using these tips and techniques, you can make Copilot a valuable, time-saving partner in your development workflow. Start small, experiment regularly, and refine your prompting skills to maximize Copilot’s impact.

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