Copilot Skill Bridge

Bridge Claude Code marketplace skills into GitHub Copilot.

Copilot Skill Bridge discovers skills from local Claude plugin caches and remote GitHub repositories, converts Claude-specific references into Copilot-compatible formats, and writes prompt files that GitHub Copilot can use directly. It also detects skills that rely on Claude-only infrastructure and marks them as incompatible so you only import what actually works.

Features

• Skill Discovery -- Finds skills from your local Claude plugin cache and configurable remote GitHub marketplace repositories. Transitive dependency resolution follows marketplace dependencies and source.url redirects automatically via BFS with cycle detection. Search GitHub for new marketplaces directly from the command palette.
• Progressive Loading -- Local plugins appear immediately in the sidebar. Remote plugins render incrementally as each marketplace completes fetching, with a spinner indicating progress. Parallel API calls within each repo keep load times fast.
• Smart Conversion -- Applies 27 transformation rules to translate Claude-specific tool names, CLI commands, file paths, and conventions into Copilot equivalents. Converts claude mcp add, claude install, and claude plugin install commands. MCP tool references are preserved as-is.
• Companion Files -- Skills with additional .md files alongside SKILL.md (e.g., visual criteria, code quality rules) are discovered and imported automatically. Cross-references in skill content are rewritten to point to the imported companion files.
• Dependency Resolution -- When importing a skill, cross-plugin skill dependencies and MCP server requirements are detected and offered for auto-install. Bulk imports resolve dependencies across all selected skills. Meta-orchestrator skills (e.g. using-superpowers) from transitive dependency repos are automatically included since they must always be active.
• Compatibility Analysis -- Detects skills that require Claude-only infrastructure (sub-agent dispatch, parallel agents) and marks them as incompatible. Meta-orchestrator skills are allowed since copilot-instructions.md serves this role. MCP-dependent skills are allowed when a matching MCP server is available.
• Always Active Skills -- Mark any imported skill as "always active" to write it as a .github/instructions/<name>.instructions.md file with applyTo: '**/*', so Copilot loads it on every message. Useful for generic skills like long-term memory that should always be available.
• Skill Preview -- Click any skill in the sidebar to view its content in a read-only editor. Imports and updates show a modal confirmation before writing.
• MCP Server Support -- Discovers MCP server configurations from plugin.json (inline object configs or string path references, including mcp_servers snake_case variant) with .mcp.json fallback. Writes .vscode/mcp.json with proper stdio/HTTP configs and secret input detection.
• TreeView Sidebar -- A dedicated activity bar panel groups plugins by marketplace, shows sync status with icons, and provides inline actions and right-click context menus for import/remove/embed. Dependency repos are nested under a virtual "Dependencies" folder with skill-to-skill cross-references shown as descriptions. Redirect-only marketplaces (all plugins via source URL) are displayed with their transitive sub-repos. Hover any item for a description tooltip. Click "Open Source Repository" to visit a marketplace or plugin on GitHub. Local cache plugins show only local-relevant actions; remote-only commands like "Remove Marketplace" and "Open Source Repository" are hidden for local items.
• Bulk Import / Remove -- Import or remove all compatible skills and MCP servers from a plugin or marketplace in one action via "Import All" and "Remove All from Project" context menus, with modal confirmation and cancellable progress notification. LM conversions run in parallel batches of 5 with a weighted progress bar showing conversion count (e.g. "Converting skills 5/20...").
• Update Watching -- Periodically checks remote sources for new or updated skills and notifies you when changes are available.
• Marketplace Search -- Search GitHub for Claude marketplace repositories with star counts, or type an owner/repo directly and press Enter to add it immediately.
• GitHub Authentication -- Optionally sign in with GitHub via the VS Code authentication API to access private repositories and increase API rate limits.
• Install in Claude Code -- Install remote marketplace plugins directly into Claude Code's plugin cache using existing GitHub authentication. Skills, companion files, and MCP server configurations are written to the configured cache path so Claude discovers them natively. Available as context menu actions on remote skills, plugins, and marketplaces.
• LM-Enhanced Conversion -- Optionally use the Copilot Language Model API for deeper semantic conversion beyond regex rules.

Getting Started

1. Install the extension from the VS Code Marketplace.
2. Add a marketplace -- Open the Copilot Skill Bridge sidebar and click "Add Marketplace" to search GitHub, or add repos manually in Settings under copilotSkillBridge.marketplaces.
3. Browse skills -- Expand a marketplace or plugin in the sidebar to see available skills and MCP servers. Incompatible skills are shown with a dimmed icon and reason.
4. Preview skills -- Click any skill in the sidebar to view its content before importing.
5. Import skills and MCP servers -- Click the download icon on any available skill or MCP server, right-click for more options, or use "Import All" on a plugin or marketplace node to bulk import everything at once.
6. Make skills always active -- Right-click an imported skill and choose "Embed in Instructions" to write it as an always-active instructions file.
7. Optionally sign in to GitHub using the "Sign in to GitHub" command for access to private repos and higher rate limits.

Output Formats

The extension supports three output formats controlled by copilotSkillBridge.outputFormats:

• skills (default, recommended) -- Generates native SKILL.md folders that GitHub Copilot reads directly. Companion files keep their original names alongside SKILL.md. See Skills (recommended) below.
• prompts -- Generates .github/prompts/<name>.prompt.md files. These are invoked on-demand via Copilot /slash-commands with zero context overhead until you use them.
• instructions -- Generates .github/instructions/<name>.instructions.md files with an applyTo: '**/*' frontmatter. These are automatically loaded by Copilot on every message.

When only prompts is selected, the full converted skill content is embedded directly in the prompt file. When both prompts and instructions are selected, the prompt file is a pointer to the instructions file.

Skills (recommended)

skills writes a native Copilot Agent Skill -- a SKILL.md with name/description frontmatter plus any companion .md files, all under one folder per skill. Body content still goes through the same conversion pipeline (e.g. TodoWrite -> task checklist) so skills behave correctly under Copilot.

Where skills install is controlled by copilotSkillBridge.skillsScope:

• user (default) -- Installs to ~/.claude/skills/<name>/. Like installing a VS Code extension: install once, available in every workspace, no clutter in your repo.
• workspace -- Installs to .github/skills/<name>/. Committed with the project and shared with the team. Use this when a skill should travel with the codebase.

Override the path entirely with copilotSkillBridge.skillsPath (supports ~ expansion; relative paths anchor at the workspace root for workspace scope).

Migration: existing users on the old instructions/prompts defaults will see a one-time prompt offering to switch to the new skills default.

Requirements:

• GitHub Copilot extension from December 2025 or later (native SKILL.md support shipped Dec 18, 2025).
• Skills only fire in Copilot Agent mode -- they will not be picked up in Ask, Edit, or Inline modes. Switch to Agent mode in the Copilot Chat view to use them.

Settings

Commands

How It Works

Claude Code skills use Claude-specific tool names, file paths, and conventions that GitHub Copilot does not understand. Copilot Skill Bridge:

1. Discovers plugins from your local Claude cache and remote GitHub marketplace repos. Marketplace dependencies and source.url redirects are resolved transitively via BFS with cycle detection, so a single marketplace entry can pull in an entire ecosystem of plugins. Skills and their companion .md files are fetched in parallel for fast loading.
2. Analyzes each skill for compatibility -- skills requiring sub-agent dispatch or parallel agents are flagged as incompatible. Meta-orchestrator skills are allowed (copilot-instructions.md serves this role). MCP-dependent skills (e.g. memory tools) are allowed when a matching server is available from the plugin, your workspace, or the system.
3. Converts compatible skills by applying 27 regex transformation rules (e.g. TodoWrite -> task checklist, claude mcp add -> VS Code config, CLAUDE.md -> .github/copilot-instructions.md, superpowers:skill-name -> instruction file references). Optionally passes through the Copilot Language Model API for deeper semantic conversion.
4. Resolves cross-plugin skill dependencies and MCP server requirements, offering auto-install of missing dependencies before writing. Meta-orchestrator skills from transitive dependency repos are automatically included.
5. Writes the converted content. By default this is a native SKILL.md folder under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ (user scope) or .github/skills/<name>/ (workspace scope), with companion files alongside. The legacy prompts and instructions formats remain available and write to .github/prompts/*.prompt.md and/or .github/instructions/*.instructions.md respectively. When the legacy formats are used, a slim registry table is appended to copilot-instructions.md with skill names and file paths so Copilot knows which skills are available.
6. Manages MCP server configurations by discovering them from plugin.json (inline objects or string path references) with .mcp.json fallback, and converting to VS Code's .vscode/mcp.json format with automatic secret input detection for environment variables.

License

MIT