Your path

Step 1
Course map: plans, AI Credits, setting up Visual Studio 2026 and VS Code, the ENGAGE repository~1 h · A · Foundations
Step 2 · ~1.5 h · A · Foundations · by the author’s design, after “Course map: plans, AI Credits, setting up Visual Studio 2026 and VS Code, the ENGAGE repository”inside a rung the order is up to you
How Copilot works: prompt building, context, proxy filtering, post-processing, suggestion lifecycle
Responsible use: risks, hallucinated APIs, insecure patterns, output ownership, verification discipline
Step 3
Context engineering and prompting: #-references, participants, zero/few-shot, chat history, fresh sessions~1.5 h · A · Foundations · by the author’s design, after “How Copilot works: prompt building, context, proxy filtering, post-processing, suggestion lifecycle”
Governance: organisation policies, content exclusion and its gaps, public code filter, audit log, REST API for seats, AI Credit budgets~2 h · E · Governance & exam · by the author’s design, after “Responsible use: risks, hallucinated APIs, insecure patterns, output ownership, verification discipline”
Step 4
Visual Studio 2026 basics: inline suggestions, Next Edit Suggestions, Chat, Copilot Actions, commit messages~1 h · B · Visual Studio 2026 · by the author’s design, after “Context engineering and prompting: #-references, participants, zero/few-shot, chat history, fresh sessions”
VS Code: Chat, Plan, agent sessions, the Agents window, model choice and its price~1.5 h · C · VS Code & team customisation · by the author’s design, after “Context engineering and prompting: #-references, participants, zero/few-shot, chat history, fresh sessions”
Aldervane case: the February confidentiality incident — root causes across the whole course~1.5 h · E · Governance & exam · by the author’s design, after “Governance: organisation policies, content exclusion and its gaps, public code filter, audit log, REST API for seats, AI Credit budgets”
Copilot CLI essentials: install, interactive sessions, plan and autopilot, permissions, key commands, scripts and files~1 h · E · Governance & exam · by the author’s design, after “Context engineering and prompting: #-references, participants, zero/few-shot, chat history, fresh sessions”
Measuring impact and rolling Copilot out to a team: metrics, adoption, avoiding vendor numbers~1 h · Optional · Beyond the exam · by the author’s design, after “Governance: organisation policies, content exclusion and its gaps, public code filter, audit log, REST API for seats, AI Credit budgets”
Step 5
Agent mode in Visual Studio: tools, approvals, the build/test loop, Plan agent → Implement plan~1.5 h · B · Visual Studio 2026 · by the author’s design, after “Visual Studio 2026 basics: inline suggestions, Next Edit Suggestions, Chat, Copilot Actions, commit messages”
Team rules: copilot-instructions.md, *.instructions.md with applyTo, prompt files, organisation instructions — and what VS and the CLI see~1.5 h · C · VS Code & team customisation · by the author’s design, after “VS Code: Chat, Plan, agent sessions, the Agents window, model choice and its price”
Exam rehearsal: GH-300 formats, traps by domain, time management~1.5 h · E · Governance & exam · by the author’s design, after “Aldervane case: the February confidentiality incident — root causes across the whole course”, “Copilot CLI essentials: install, interactive sessions, plan and autopilot, permissions, key commands, scripts and files”
Copilot CLI at work: sessions, delegation to the cloud agent, plugins and custom agents~1 h · Optional · Beyond the exam · by the author’s design, after “Copilot CLI essentials: install, interactive sessions, plan and autopilot, permissions, key commands, scripts and files”
Models, BYOK and cost engineering under AI Credits~1 h · Optional · Beyond the exam · by the author’s design, after “VS Code: Chat, Plan, agent sessions, the Agents window, model choice and its price”
Step 6
Built-in agents in Visual Studio: @debugger, @profiler, @test, @git review~1.5 h · B · Visual Studio 2026 · by the author’s design, after “Agent mode in Visual Studio: tools, approvals, the build/test loop, Plan agent → Implement plan”
Custom agents and agent skills: team roles and procedures in the repository~2 h · C · VS Code & team customisation · by the author’s design, after “Team rules: copilot-instructions.md, *.instructions.md with applyTo, prompt files, organisation instructions — and what VS and the CLI see”
Testing with Copilot: unit and integration tests, edge cases, assertions — and why an agent's green tests prove little~1.5 h · D · Quality & teamwork · by the author’s design, after any one of these: “Agent mode in Visual Studio: tools, approvals, the build/test loop, Plan agent → Implement plan”, “VS Code: Chat, Plan, agent sessions, the Agents window, model choice and its price”
Copilot CLI in automation: non-interactive runs, preToolUse hooks, scripts and CI~1 h · Optional · Beyond the exam · by the author’s design, after “Copilot CLI at work: sessions, delegation to the cloud agent, plugins and custom agents”
Step 7
Lab: modernising Engage.Legacy.Import with @modernize (.NET Framework 4.8 → .NET 10)~2 h · B · Visual Studio 2026 · by the author’s design, after “Built-in agents in Visual Studio: @debugger, @profiler, @test, @git review”
MCP: connecting servers, trust, allowlists and registry policy, data leakage and prompt injection through tools~1.5 h · C · VS Code & team customisation · by the author’s design, after “Custom agents and agent skills: team roles and procedures in the repository”
Security and performance review: Review Selection, Copilot code review on pull requests, and judging AI findings~1.5 h · D · Quality & teamwork · by the author’s design, after “Testing with Copilot: unit and integration tests, edge cases, assertions — and why an agent's green tests prove little”
Hooks and guardrails in VS Code: agent hooks, scoped hooks in custom agents, failure semantics~1 h · Optional · Beyond the exam · by the author’s design, after “Custom agents and agent skills: team roles and procedures in the repository”
Step 8
The cloud agent: from issue to pull request, reviewing an agent's PR, and when delegation pays off~1.5 h · D · Quality & teamwork · by the author’s design, after “Security and performance review: Review Selection, Copilot code review on pull requests, and judging AI findings”
Step 9
Spaces, PR summaries and review standards in instruction files (and Spark, briefly)~1 h · D · Quality & teamwork · by the author’s design, after “The cloud agent: from issue to pull request, reviewing an agent's PR, and when delegation pays off”
Examfinal · in the browser, without the assistantclosed · enrol on the course

0 of 25 units done · ~29.5 h without the optional units, ~34.5 h with them

Measuring impact and rolling Copilot out to a team: metrics, adoption, avoiding vendor numbers

This unit is open to those enrolled

Enrolment is free — it is what lets the server remember your progress between sessions.