Installation & Prerequisites

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

• A Bash-compatible shell — macOS and Linux work out of the box. On Windows, install Git for Windows and use Git Bash.
• Azure CLI, GitHub CLI, jq, and git — installed and authenticated.

Quick check

Run /prereq-check in Copilot Chat after installation. It validates every tool and auth session for you and shows platform-specific install commands for anything missing.

Which installation method should I use?

Method	Best for	Requirements
VS Code Marketplace	One-click install for VS Code users	VS Code + Copilot
VS Code marketplaces setting	Advanced workflows, multi-plugin marketplaces	VS Code + Copilot + chat.plugins.enabled
Copilot CLI plugin	Terminal-first workflows or CI scripting	Copilot CLI
Local dev install	Contributing to Git-Ape itself	Git clone of the repo
GitHub Codespaces	Trying Git-Ape without any local setup	GitHub account

Most users should start with the VS Code Marketplace option. If you just want to try Git-Ape without installing anything, jump to Codespaces.

Option A: VS Code Marketplace (one-click)

The fastest way to install Git-Ape in VS Code. The published listing bundles all agents and skills as a regular VS Code extension — no chat.plugins.enabled setting required.

1. Open the Git-Ape listing on the VS Code Marketplace and click Install, or use one of the badges above to open VS Code directly.
2. Verify the agents and skills appear in Copilot Chat — type @git-ape or /prereq-check.

Direct install URI

You can also paste vscode:extension/Git-ApeTeam.git-ape into your browser to launch VS Code and install in one step. Use vscode-insiders:extension/Git-ApeTeam.git-ape for VS Code Insiders.

Option B: VS Code marketplaces setting

Your organization must have the chat.plugins.enabled setting set to true. If you are unsure, ask your admin or try the steps below — VS Code will tell you if plugins are disabled.

1. Add the Git-Ape marketplace to your VS Code settings.json:

   

   "chat.plugins.marketplaces": [
       "Azure/git-ape"
   ]

2. Open the Extensions view (⇧⌘X on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+X on Windows/Linux), search for @agentPlugins, find git-ape, and select Install.

   Alternatively, open the Command Palette (⇧⌘P / Ctrl+Shift+P), run Chat: Install Plugin From Source, and enter https://github.com/Azure/git-ape.

3. Verify the agents and skills appear in Copilot Chat — type @git-ape or /prereq-check.

Option C: Copilot CLI plugin

copilot plugin marketplace add Azure/git-ape
copilot plugin install git-ape@git-ape
copilot plugin list   # Should show: git-ape@git-ape

Option D: Local development install

Use this if you are contributing to Git-Ape or want to test local changes.

git clone https://github.com/Azure/git-ape.git

Register the local checkout in your VS Code settings.json:

"chat.pluginLocations": {
    "/absolute/path/to/git-ape": true
}

Reload VS Code; the @git-ape agent and skills will appear in Copilot Chat.

Verify installation

In Copilot Chat, type:

@git-ape hello

You should see the Git-Ape orchestrator respond. If it does not, reload the VS Code window (Cmd+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window).

Discover and install additional skills

After installing Git-Ape through VS Code or Copilot CLI, you have its core agents, core skills, and /git-ape-skills. The unified registry includes community discovery metadata, but listing a community skill does not install or activate it. The VSIX excludes community source entirely; Git-based plugin installation may download the repository containing that source outside the core skill-loader path.

Search the registry

/git-ape-skills search AWS

You can also ask @git-ape find a skill for AWS Lambda. Results show matching skills, descriptions, authors, sources, and documentation. Community results are optional and are not available merely because they appear in the registry. Search runs locally and makes no workspace changes.

There are currently no submitted community skills. An AWS search will return no community match until one is contributed through an Azure/git-ape PR.

Review and approve a selected skill

/git-ape-skills install <skill-name>

Installation requires Node.js and an authenticated GitHub CLI (gh). Git-Ape identifies your destination workspace, resolves a pinned Azure/git-ape commit, and shows the selected skill and supporting files. Approve the skill, commit, and destination before any files are written.

Community content comes from Azure/git-ape, not the author's external source URL. PR review provides oversight and provenance, not a guarantee of safety.

Install into the workspace

The complete selected directory is copied into your repository:

your-repository\
  .github\
    skills\
      <skill-name>\
        SKILL.md
        scripts\
        references\
        .git-ape-provenance.json

Supporting scripts and references are copied when present. The installer refuses overwrites, records the pinned source revision, and does not execute scripts or install dependencies. You can review and commit these workspace changes for your team.

Use the installed skill

Reload your client or start a new session if needed, then invoke /<skill-name> once the client discovers it. Git-Ape routes to a community skill only when it is available in the current session.

Installation is workspace-scoped, not global. Other repositories do not automatically receive the skill. Client discovery requires support for workspace .github/skills/ directories; live client activation has not been verified as part of this implementation.

What's next?

You have Git-Ape installed. Here is the recommended path depending on what you want to do:

• VS Code vs Copilot CLI — feature parity and when to pick which surface

• Azure Setup — Connect Git-Ape to your Azure subscription so it can deploy resources.
• Onboarding — Configure OIDC, RBAC, and GitHub environments for CI/CD pipelines.
• Codespaces — Spin up a ready-to-use dev environment in your browser.