Github Copilot Best Practices

A practical guide to optimise your OpenCode setup, powered by Github Copilot

Everything on this site was built using OpenCode, by someone who didn't have the skills beforehand.
If you think you are not technical enough or wondered how people create such things, this is for you.
You don't need a coding background to get real value from these tools, I felt the same intimidation to start with.
This guide is designed to help you make taking that first step as easy as possible.

Gus Higgins  ·  Sydney, Australia  ·  higgins.gus@gmail.com  ·  LinkedIn
OpenCode
Open-source coding agent that runs on your laptop. Talk to it in plain language — it reads files, runs commands, calls APIs, and builds real things.
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GitHub Copilot
Your licensed access to frontier AI models — Claude, GPT, and more. Powers the agent's reasoning. No separate API keys needed.
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Together
Build real outputs — Confluence pages, GitHub sites, Jira agents, apps, automations — without writing code yourself. No coding background required.
Cursor · Windsurf · Claude Code · VS Code Copilot Chat are peers to OpenCode. Whilst this guide focuses more on OpenCode, the principles apply to all — share these pages with your tool of choice as a starting reference. Always follow your organisation's AI Use Policy.

Getting Started

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What does that mean!?!

A simple glossary of the jargon — LLMs, MCPs, agents, APIs and the rest. Open this any time something doesn't make sense.

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Initial Setup

Everything you need to go from zero to your first working OpenCode session — getting a GitHub Copilot licence, installing OpenCode, and connecting it up.

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5 Things to Try First

Five small projects to build momentum once you're set up. Each takes 15–30 minutes and produces something real you'll actually use.

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Part 1 — Powering Up with Context

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Building Context Packs

How to structure documents, transcripts, playbooks, and other files so OpenCode can use them as rich, reliable context. The single biggest lever for better output quality.

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Using Skills

How to create and load OpenCode Skills — reusable instruction sets that give the agent specialised knowledge and workflows for repeatable tasks.

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Data Safety & Boundaries

What actually gets sent to the model, what stays local, and how to make confident decisions about what's safe to include as context — and what to keep out.

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Part 2 — Personal Setup Best Practices

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Efficient Usage

How to see where your Copilot credits are going, the difference between Plan and Build mode, and the simple habits that cut consumption without hurting output.

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File Management

Your working files, OpenCode config, and session history each need to be handled differently. What's already synced automatically, what's worth backing up, and what should stay local only.

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Collaborating on GitHub Pages

How to set up a shared GitHub Pages site so multiple team members can contribute, review and publish content together — without needing to know HTML.

Work in progress

Part 3 — MCPs & APIs

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Understanding MCPs

What MCPs are, how read and write access works, and why live connections to your tools beat static files.

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Handling API Keys & Tokens Safely

How to manage credentials securely and scalably — across sessions, devices, and team members — without exposing secrets in config files or chat logs.

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MCP Setup Possibilities

What MCPs are available, how to configure them in OpenCode, and what to watch out for when getting started.

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Part 4 — Team Infrastructure Best Practices

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VM / Server Hosting

A laptop is fine for most use cases, but bots, daily digest jobs, and scheduled syncs need to run 24/7. A VM inside your organisation's infrastructure gives you that without any external cloud cost.

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