microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming

A multi-module course teaching everything you need to know about using GitHub Copilot as an AI Peer Programming resource.

What this project is

Mastering GitHub Copilot is a free, self-paced course (about 10 hours total) that teaches you how to use GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant, as a true programming partner. The course is built around Copilot's Agent Mode — a feature that lets the AI not just suggest code, but actively plan, write, test, and iterate on multi-step tasks when you give it natural-language instructions.

What you'll learn

The course covers how to:

  • Use natural-language prompts to start multi-step solutions (from planning and architecture to code generation, testing, and iteration)
  • Work with Copilot across several programming languages: JavaScript, Python, C#, and SQL
  • Use Copilot from the command line (CLI) and as a coding agent that can be delegated tasks
  • Integrate Copilot with external tools via the Model Context Protocol (MCP)
  • Apply Copilot to real-world scenarios: building a mini game, upgrading legacy code, migrating an app to a new language, doing data science with Jupyter notebooks, and deploying to the cloud with Azure

How the course is structured

Lessons are grouped into three levels:

  • Beginner — one lesson: getting started with GitHub Copilot
  • Intermediate — seven lessons: JavaScript, Python, C#, CLI, coding agent, MCP integration, and a mini-game project
  • Advanced — six lessons: advanced features, Azure deployment, complex SQL, legacy project upgrades, language migration, and data science

Each lesson includes a written guide (in its README), a challenge or assignment to practice what you learned, and links to extra resources.

What you need to get started

  • A GitHub account (you'll fork the course repository so you can modify code and complete challenges at your own pace)
  • An active GitHub Copilot subscription (the README links to a free signup)

How to get help or contribute

  • Help: join the Azure AI Foundry community Discord or post in the Azure AI Foundry developer forum (links in the README)
  • Contribute: report spelling or code errors by raising an issue or creating a pull request; you can also suggest new lessons or exercises

Related courses

The project also points to other free Microsoft courses, including ones on generative AI, machine learning, web development, and more — all linked from the README.

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