How to Use GitHub Copilot: Tips and Tricks for Developers

GitHub Copilot is powerful out of the box, but most developers use only 20% of its capabilities. These tips will help you get 10x more value from your $10/month subscription.

Setup: Get the Most From Day One

1. Install extensions: Get Copilot + Copilot Chat in VS Code/JetBrains
2. Enable Copilot Labs (VS Code): Access experimental features like code explanation and translation
3. Configure completions: In settings, enable “Show Copilot completions inline”
4. Set keyboard shortcuts: Tab (accept) / Escape (dismiss) / Alt+[ (next suggestion)

Core Copilot Techniques

1. Comment-Driven Development

Write what you want in a comment, then let Copilot generate the code:

# Function to validate email addresses using regex
# Returns True if valid, False otherwise
# Should handle edge cases: multiple dots, subdomains, special characters

def validate_email(email: str) -> bool:

Copilot will generate a complete, working implementation. This is faster than writing from scratch even if you know exactly what to write.

2. Ghost Text for Boilerplate

Start typing a pattern and Copilot autocompletes it:

• Type class User → Copilot suggests the full model with common fields
• Type async def get_user → Copilot suggests FastAPI endpoint with proper types
• Type def test_ → Copilot suggests complete test functions for the function it can see

3. Copilot Chat for Complex Tasks

Open the Chat panel (Ctrl+Shift+I) for multi-turn coding conversations:

• /explain — explains selected code in plain English
• /fix — analyzes and fixes selected code with explanation
• /tests — generates unit tests for selected function
• /doc — generates docstring for selected function
• /simplify — refactors code to be simpler

4. Context Window Management

Copilot considers code in open files. Improve suggestions by:

• Keeping related files open in tabs — Copilot uses them as context
• Writing clear variable names and comments — helps Copilot understand intent
• Using type hints in Python — dramatically improves suggestion accuracy

10 Power Moves Most Developers Miss

1. Generate entire test files: Create an empty test file, import your module, and type the first test comment. Copilot will suggest a complete test suite.

2. Convert pseudocode to real code: Write your algorithm in plain English comments, then trigger Copilot to implement it step by step.

3. Explain error messages: In Copilot Chat: “Explain this error and suggest fixes: [paste error]”

4. Generate SQL from descriptions: Comment “# Query to find all users who signed up this month and haven’t logged in since” → Copilot generates SQL.

5. Create regex patterns: Comment “# Regex to match US phone numbers in format (XXX) XXX-XXXX” → Copilot writes and validates the pattern.

6. Refactor to patterns: Ask in Chat: “Refactor this code to use the Repository pattern” → Copilot restructures your code.

7. Generate API clients: Paste an API spec or example response, ask Copilot to generate the client class.

8. Translate between languages: Select code in Python, ask Chat to convert to TypeScript/Go/Java.

9. Add logging: “Add structured logging to this function with appropriate log levels” → instant implementation.

10. Generate CLI documentation: Select a CLI function and ask Chat for argparse implementation and help text.

Copilot vs Cursor: When to Use Each

• Use Copilot: If you love your existing IDE (PyCharm, Neovim, etc.) and don’t want to switch
• Use Cursor: If you primarily use VS Code and want full codebase awareness for complex projects
• Use both: Many developers use Copilot for quick tasks and Cursor for complex features

Try GitHub Copilot ($10/mo) →