Question

A developer has installed the GitHub Copilot CLI extension via the GitHub CLI and wants to invoke Copilot's command explanation feature using a short custom alias (for example, typing `copilot explain 'tar -xzf'` instead of the full `gh copilot explain` command). They also want tab-completion and the alias to persist across new terminal sessions. Which approach correctly sets this up?

Accepted Answer

Run `gh copilot alias -- bash` (or the equivalent for zsh/PowerShell) and add the emitted output to the appropriate shell startup file so the aliases are loaded in every new session.

Answer

Manually add `alias copilot='gh copilot'` to `.bashrc`, which is the only supported way since Copilot CLI provides no built-in alias command.

Answer

Set the `GH_COPILOT_ALIAS` environment variable in the shell profile, which Copilot reads at startup to register both aliases and completions.

Answer

Reinstall the extension with `gh extension install github/gh-copilot --alias copilot`, since aliases must be defined at install time.