Copilot SDK v1.0.0-beta.1: Custom Instructions & TCP Tokens

TL;DR

• Custom instruction directories let you point sessions at project-specific or team-shared instruction files
• TCP connection tokens now auto-generate for headless server auth; configurable data directory for isolated deployments
• Breaking changes: RPC type renames across all SDKs; .NET no longer depends on StreamJsonRpc

New

• Custom instruction directories — Sessions can specify additional directories to search for custom instruction files via instructionDirectories option on session create and resume config. Useful for project-specific or team-shared instructions beyond defaults.
• TCP connection tokens — SDK auto-generates connection tokens to authenticate TCP handshake when spawning CLI server. For external servers, supply token explicitly via tcpConnectionToken client option.
• Configurable Copilot data directory — New copilotHome client option controls where CLI stores session state and persistent data. Defaults to ~/.copilot; useful for containerized deployments and running multiple CLI instances side-by-side.
• [.NET] Improved NativeAOT compatibility — Replaced StreamJsonRpc dependency with custom JSON-RPC implementation, reducing external dependencies and deployment overhead.

Fixed

• [.NET] AOT serialization for SetForegroundSessionIdAsync() by adding source-generated request type.

Breaking Changes

• RPC type renames — PermissionCompletedResult → PermissionResult; PermissionCompletedKind → PermissionResultKind; ToolsHandlePendingToolCallRequest → HandlePendingToolCallRequest; HandleToolCallResult → HandlePendingToolCallResult. Update any code that references these types by name. Same logical renames apply across all four SDKs with language-appropriate casing.
• [.NET] StreamJsonRpc dependency removed — If your application relied on StreamJsonRpc as a transitive dependency, add a direct reference to your project.

Update via: npm install @github/copilot-sdk@1.0.0-beta.1 or equivalent package manager for your language. See full release notes for language-specific installation details.

Source: Copilot SDK