Control GitHub Copilot Remotely from Your Phone
Grant Harris and Kaleb Cole demonstrate a workflow for continuing a GitHub Copilot session away from your computer by pairing your phone to the same session.
Overview
This episode walks through using the GitHub Mobile app to remotely control an active GitHub Copilot session started on a computer. The presenters use the workflow to plan and implement a small portfolio-site feature (a page progress bar), handle Copilot’s clarifying questions from the phone, and then return to the computer to review the completed changes in the canvas.
Remote Copilot session workflow
- Start a Copilot session on your computer.
- Enable remote control from within the Copilot experience using the slash command:
/remote on
- Pair your phone to the session:
- Scan the QR code using the GitHub Mobile app.
- Continue the same Copilot session on your phone:
- Answer Copilot’s questions one at a time.
- Provide decisions (for example, where a progress bar should appear).
- Let Copilot proceed with reasonable assumptions when appropriate.
- Return to your computer and review the completed feature in the canvas.
Example feature used in the demo
- Planning and implementing a page progress bar for a portfolio website.
- Using Copilot’s clarifying questions to decide UI placement and behavior.
Series context
This is episode 10 of 10 in the Microsoft Developer student series “Build your personal brand with Copilot,” which follows Microsoft employees using tools including GitHub Copilot, Visual Studio Code, GitHub Pages, Microsoft Foundry, MCP servers, and agent skills to create and improve a professional portfolio website.
Resources
- Series site: https://aka.ms/student-learning-series-website
- Prompts, code, and episode artifacts: https://aka.ms/student-learning-series
- Learn more about GitHub Copilot: https://aka.ms/StudentAI-GitHubCopilotApp
- GitHub guide to remote Copilot sessions: https://github.blog/news-insights/product-news/take-your-local-github-sessions-anywhere/
- Download GitHub Mobile: https://github.com/mobile
Presenters
- Grant Harris (Software Engineer at Microsoft): https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantwharris/
- Kaleb Cole (Software Engineer at Microsoft): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaleb-cole