GitHub Copilot CLI

OpenKnowledge plugs into GitHub Copilot CLI through MCP.

Install

There are two ways to connect GitHub Copilot CLI, depending on how you run OpenKnowledge:

• macOS desktop app. The first time you open a project, a consent dialog detects GitHub Copilot CLI and configures it for you. To re-trigger the dialog, choose File → Set up OpenKnowledge integrations….
• Web app / terminal (Linux, Windows, Intel Mac — see the web app guide). Run ok init in your project: it registers the OpenKnowledge MCP server with GitHub Copilot CLI and the other editors it detects. Every ok start repairs the entry if it has drifted (it never adds one you removed).

ok init writes the MCP server to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json, or to $COPILOT_HOME/mcp-config.json when COPILOT_HOME is set. The configuration is global because Copilot CLI prioritizes global MCP configuration over project configuration.

If the Copilot config directory does not exist yet, launch Copilot CLI once and rerun ok init so it can write the MCP configuration.

It also installs the project skill at .github/skills/open-knowledge/SKILL.md so Copilot can follow the project's OpenKnowledge workflow.

Open with AI

In OpenKnowledge's docked terminal, select GitHub Copilot from the new-chat picker. It starts Copilot CLI in interactive mode with context for the current project. The option is hidden when the copilot executable is not installed.

Verify

Open the project in GitHub Copilot CLI and ask:

“List the first 5 documents you come across in this project.”Copy

GitHub Copilot CLI should call the OpenKnowledge exec tool and respond with some of your documents.

If you don't see the tool, restart Copilot CLI. If ok init reported that your config was left unchanged, fix the reported config issue and rerun ok init. To add it manually, create an open-knowledge entry in mcpServers that runs ok mcp.