Goal Skill for GitHub Copilot

Verified autonomous task completion — an orchestrator that bounces between a Builder (does the work) and an Inspector (judges the result) until the goal is met.

Tip

You need to enable Copilot YOLO mode to use this skill efficiently.

Important: Why Not Just Autopilot?

Autopilot is a similar feature directly provided by Copilot. It used to use hardcoded rules to find out if a task is done, which was not reliable.

Important

Starting VS Code 1.124, Autopilot CAN be configured to use an utility model to evaluate to completion of the task, instead of relying on custom rules.

For that you need to set chat.autopilot.advanced.enabled to true in your VS Code settings.

However, this skill is not deprecated by Autopilot if you care about the following:

• the goal.md is clearly defined, written in your repository
• Use a smarter model for inspector (Autopilot uses a small utility model)
• Git audit trail (you can see in the history the different review, retry, ...)

How It Works

1. Relentless interview — asks clarifying questions until it can write a clear goal with measurable acceptance criteria
2. Project discovery — explores your repo for conventions, quality gates, commit rules
3. Writes a goal file — immutable goal.md with acceptance criteria that becomes the single source of truth
4. Builder → Inspector loop — the Builder implements and commits; a separate Inspector (different model, fresh context) independently verifies against the goal; if FAIL, the Builder gets feedback and tries again
5. Git commit trail — each iteration is committed, so you can review the history of coder and inspector decisions
6. Summary and squash — when the Inspector says PASS, you get a summary and a ready-to-use squash command

Architecture

Agent	Model	Role
Builder	GPT-5.6 Luna	Implements the goal
Inspector	GPT 5.6 Sol	Verifies independently

The Inspector runs on a separate model with fresh context by design — it forces clear, verifiable acceptance criteria. If the Inspector can't tell whether the goal is met, the goal was poorly defined.

Installation

Marketplace

Install this project as Marketplace in VS code settings:

https://github.com/gsemet/copilot-goal-skill.git

Manual

Clone this repo and point VS Code at it as a Copilot plugin:

// .vscode/settings.json
{
  "github.copilot.chat.agent-plugins": [
    "/path/to/copilot-goal-skill/plugins/copilot-goal-skill"
  ]
}

Or install from the marketplace if your setup supports marketplace.json-based plugins.

Usage

Invoke the skill through Copilot chat:

/copilot-goal-skill:goal Add retry logic to the API client

The skill will:

1. Ask you clarifying questions until the goal is clear
2. Write .goals/<id>/goal.md
3. Start the Builder → Inspector loop
4. Show a summary and squash command when done

File Structure

When the skill runs, it creates in your project:

.goals/<id>/
├── goal.md                     # What must be achieved (immutable)
├── status.json                 # Iteration tracking + resumability
├── inspector-feedback-01.md    # First iteration feedback
├── inspector-feedback-02.md    # Second iteration (if needed)
└── summary.md                  # Final report (after PASS)

Plugin Structure

copilot-goal-skill/
├── .github/plugin/marketplace.json
├── images
│   └── goal-loop.svg             # Animated workflow diagram
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
└── plugins/copilot-goal-skill/
    ├── .github/plugin/plugin.json
    ├── skills/goal/
    │   ├── SKILL.md              # Orchestrator instructions
    │   └── assets/
    │       └── goal-template.md  # Template for goal files
    └── agents/
        ├── goal-builder.agent.md
        └── goal-inspector.agent.md

Configuration

Setting	Default	Notes
Builder model	GPT-5.6 Luna	In goal-builder.agent.md
Inspector model	GPT 5.6 Sol	Independent verification model
Iteration limit	None	Soft warning at 5
Commit convention	Conventional commits	Overridden by project's own

License

MIT