GitHub Copilot Memories

A curated collection of GitHub Copilot instruction files and prompt templates that encode personal coding standards, style conventions, and domain-specific rules. These files are loaded automatically by VS Code's Copilot Chat, ensuring consistent, high-quality code generation across all projects.

✨ Features

• Language-specific instruction files for C#, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, and Bash, each covering naming, style, error handling, and best practices for that language.
• General coding rules applied to all files: clean code, single responsibility, British English, magic number elimination, dead code removal, and line-length limits.
• MonoGame / NuciXNA rules covering GUI control lifecycle, texture management, and NuciXNA-specific APIs.
• Language preference rules for both English (British spelling) and Romanian (word replacement lists).
• Standard test values providing a consistent set of funny, reusable test data (names, cities, domains, video game titles, etc.) used across all test suites.
• README prompt template for generating standardised, well-structured README.md files.
• Patterns memory file stored under globalStorage/ so Copilot Chat's memory tool can reference the index at runtime.
• Symlink-friendly layout: the prompts/ folder is designed to be symlinked directly into the VS Code user profile so rule updates are reflected immediately without copying files.

🚀 Usage

Once the prompts/ folder is symlinked (see Development), Copilot Chat picks up all .instructions.md files automatically based on their applyTo patterns. No further configuration is necessary - just use Copilot Chat as normal and the rules will be applied.

To generate a README.md for any repository, open Copilot Chat and type:

Update the readme

The github-readme.prompt.md template will be invoked automatically.

🛠️ Development

Requirements

• VS Code with the GitHub Copilot Chat extension installed.

Setup

Clone the repository and symlink the prompts/ and memories/ directories into your VS Code user profile:

# Linux
ln -s "$(pwd)/prompts" ~/.config/Code/User/prompts
mkdir -p ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool
ln -s "$(pwd)/globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool/memories" ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool/memories

# macOS
ln -s "$(pwd)/prompts" ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/prompts
mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool
ln -s "$(pwd)/globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool/memories" ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool/memories

# Windows (run as Administrator)
mklink /D "%APPDATA%\Code\User\prompts" "%CD%\prompts"
mkdir "%APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\memory-tool"
mklink /D "%APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\memory-tool\memories" "%CD%\globalStorage\github.copilot-chat\memory-tool\memories"

VS Code picks up all .instructions.md and .prompt.md files automatically via the chat.promptFilesLocations setting (or the default user-profile scan).

🗂️ Project Structure

Key directories and files:

Path	Purpose
prompts/	Instruction and prompt files loaded by VS Code Copilot Chat
globalStorage/github.copilot-chat/memory-tool/memories/	Memory files used by the Copilot Chat memory tool

Key files inside prompts/:

File	applyTo	Purpose
general.instructions.md	**	General coding rules and source control conventions
language.instructions.md	**	British English spelling and Romanian word replacements
csharp.instructions.md	**/*.cs, **/*.csproj, **/*.slnx	C# project structure, code style, and unit test rules
bash.instructions.md	**/*.sh	Bash/shell scripting conventions
python.instructions.md	**/*.py	Python coding conventions
typescript.instructions.md	**/*.ts, **/*.tsx	TypeScript/JavaScript coding conventions
monogame.instructions.md	description-based	XNA / MonoGame / NuciXNA-specific rules
test-values.instructions.md	description-based	Standard reusable test data values
github-readme.prompt.md	prompt	Template for generating README.md files

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please:

• Keep changes cross-platform
• Keep pull requests focused and consistent with the existing code style
• Update documentation when behaviour changes

💝 Support

Found a bug or have a suggestion? Open an issue!

If you find this project useful, consider funding it or giving a ⭐️ on GitHub!

📄 License

Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See LICENSE for details.