Fallback · ~10 min

Run Copilot CLI in your browser

A clean Codespaces path for the days when your laptop says no.

When your laptop won't let you install Node, npm, or Copilot CLI, this gets you the full experience in a browser tab. No IT involvement. No installer dialogues. Free on a personal GitHub account.

When to use this

Use the browser path when setup gets political

Cost

The cost story

Codespaces is free on a personal GitHub account, 60 hours per month on the smallest machine. The full course uses well under 2 hours of compute. No credit card. No conversion trap.

Step 1

Sign in with a personal GitHub account

Open github.com and sign in with a personal account, not your work account. Two reasons:

  1. Codespaces on a work account often inherits org policies that block exactly what we are about to do.
  2. The Copilot CLI device-code flow inside the Codespace will sign in against this same account. Keeping it personal avoids any work-tenant friction.
💡 No personal account yet? Use setup.html Step 0, or create one in 2 minutes at github.com/signup. Then turn on Copilot Free at github.com/settings/copilot.
Step 2

Open the AI Operator Intro repo as a Codespace

Click this button:

Open in a Codespace →

GitHub shows a Create codespace page. You will see the repo name JW-Sthlm/ai-operator-intro, a green Create new codespace button, and a few defaults. Leave them as they are.

Click Create new codespace. About 90 seconds to boot. The devcontainer installs Node 20 and Copilot CLI for you while you wait.

✅ Your Codespace is isolated. It runs on GitHub's infrastructure, in a private container only you can see. You cannot accidentally affect the source material. Edits live only in your Codespace. Nothing pushes anywhere. The Codespace stops on idle and you can delete it when you are done.
Step 3

Open the terminal

When the Codespace finishes booting, you land in VS Code in the browser. Open the integrated terminal:

The terminal welcome banner should say You are on a custom image defined in your devcontainer.json file. That confirms the devcontainer loaded.

⚠️ Default image? If the banner says Welcome to Codespaces! You are on our default image, open the Command Palette and run Codespaces: Rebuild Container. Or run the manual fallback below.
npm install -g @github/copilot

Verify Copilot CLI is ready:

copilot --version
✅ Pass: You should see 1.0.46 or newer. If you see an old version like 1.0.1x or 1.0.3, the devcontainer did not load. Rebuild the container and check again.
Step 3.5

Make the Codespace feel like a terminal

VS Code in the browser opens with the Explorer, an editor, a Copilot Chat panel, and the terminal all visible. Useful later. Overwhelming now.

Three quick moves get you to the right layout.

1. Close the Copilot Chat panel on the right

Look at the top-right of the screen. You will see a panel labelled CHAT with Build with Agent or Describe what to build. Click the ✕ in that panel's top-right corner. Shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+B.

Why close it: Copilot Chat is a different product from Copilot CLI. Different runtime, different MCP config, different commands. Having both visible makes it unclear which one you are talking to. Today's workshop happens in the terminal. Chat can wait.

2. Close the README preview tab (optional)

Codespaces auto-opens README.md in a preview tab. You can keep it or close it. Click the × on the tab if you want a quieter screen.

3. Maximize the terminal panel

Click the maximize icon in the terminal panel header, top-right of the panel. It looks like a square outline. Same effect via Ctrl+Shift+P, then Toggle Maximized Panel.

 ┌─────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ EXPLORER    │   Editor area                         │
 │             │   (file previews appear here when     │
 │ README.md   │    you click a file in Explorer)      │
 │ course/     │                                       │
 │ ...         │                                       │
 │             ├───────────────────────────────────────┤
 │             │   TERMINAL                            │
 │             │   $ copilot --allow-all               │
 │             │   >                                   │
 │             │   ▶  YOU WORK HERE  ◀                 │
 └─────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
💡 Bonus: When Copilot writes a .md file later, click it in the Explorer to preview it. Markdown renders nicely in the editor area. Click back into the terminal to keep working.
Step 4

Sign in to Copilot CLI

Run Copilot CLI:

copilot

Copilot shows a device code and asks you to visit github.com/login/device. Open the link, paste the code, and approve. Use the personal account from Step 1.

Come back to the Codespace terminal. When you see the > prompt, leave Copilot CLI for now:

/exit
Step 5

Start Copilot in yolo mode and have your first conversation

In the Codespace terminal, run:

copilot --allow-all

--allow-all lets Copilot run shell commands, read and write files, and fetch URLs without asking each time. Safe here, because the Codespace is a sandbox.

At the > prompt, try this:

What is GitHub Copilot CLI good for?

Then try a real operator prompt:

Help me draft a one-paragraph intro email to a new Microsoft partner contact, casual tone.
✅ That is it. You're running an AI operator from a browser tab.
Step 6

Continue with the course

Now jump to the course for the four short lessons. If you want to build something immediately, start with Exercise 1: Customer briefing.

When you're done

Stop or delete the Codespace

The Codespace stops automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity. To clean up explicitly, visit github.com/codespaces, find your codespace, click ..., then Delete. That frees the storage quota too.

FAQ

Small fixes

Codespace won't create

Check that you are signed in with a personal GitHub account. Work accounts often inherit org policies that block Codespaces.

Old Copilot CLI version

Rebuild the container: Ctrl+Shift+P, then Codespaces: Rebuild Container.

Copilot CLI did not install at all

Run the manual install command in the terminal:

npm install -g @github/copilot
← Back to setup Landing →
Community and partner enablement material. Not an official Microsoft or GitHub product. Adapted from GitHub's Copilot CLI for Beginners (MIT).