GitHub Copilot Dev Days Workshop Materials

"From Code to Automation: Mastering GitHub Agentic Workflows"

Complete workshop materials for teaching GitHub Agentic Workflows at community events

Overview • Quick Start • Materials • Usage • Contributing

🎯 Overview

This repository contains comprehensive, battle-tested materials for delivering a 2.5+ hour hands-on workshop teaching GitHub Agentic Workflows—a revolutionary way to automate repository maintenance, continuous improvement, and development workflows using natural language and AI.

Perfect for GitHub Copilot Dev Days events, user groups, conferences, and team training sessions.

What Participants Will Learn

Write intelligent automation workflows in natural language (no YAML required)
Implement continuous improvement patterns (tests, documentation, refactoring)
Automate issue management and triage
Build CI/CD coaching and diagnostics systems
Create self-organizing, self-improving repositories
Apply proper safety guardrails for AI automation

Workshop Highlights

✨ Progressive Learning - Start simple, build sophistication naturally
🎓 Hands-on Practice - Build real workflows on actual repositories
🔒 Safety First - Teach proper guardrails and human-in-the-loop patterns
🌍 Community-Ready - Designed for diverse audiences and skill levels
📦 Complete Package - Everything needed from setup to follow-up

🚀 Quick Start

For Event Organizers

Review the materials
Browse the workshop materials for a complete overview
Customize for your event
Edit gh-agentic-workflows-session.md with your event details
Prepare your venue
Ensure WiFi, projector, and seating are ready for hands-on work
Promote your workshop
Use the event descriptions and session tags provided

For Facilitators

Study the facilitator guide
facilitator-guide.md has minute-by-minute instructions
Practice the exercises
Run through all exercises yourself first (allow 3+ hours for prep)
Set up your demo environment
Fork CopilotAdventures and test workflows
Prepare backups
Have screenshots, recordings, and backup examples ready
Review the slide deck
Build your presentation using slide-deck-outline.md

For Participants

Review prerequisites
Check participant-handout.md for required setup
Bring your laptop
With admin rights to install software
Have your accounts ready
- GitHub account (free)
- GitHub Copilot access (trial available)
Print the quick reference
quick-reference-card.md for easy access during workshop

📦 Materials Included

File	Purpose	Target Audience
gh-agentic-workflows-session.md	Event page description, learning outcomes	Event Organizers
facilitator-guide.md	Complete workshop delivery guide (9,000+ words)	Facilitators
participant-handout.md	Student reference with all commands	Participants
example-workflow-prompts.md	28+ tested workflow patterns	Everyone
slide-deck-outline.md	15-slide presentation structure	Facilitators
quick-reference-card.md	One-page printable cheat sheet	Participants

Content Overview

Total Pages: ~100+ pages of content
Preparation Time: 3-4 hours for first-time facilitators
Delivery Time: 2.5+ hours standard, extensible to 3+ hours
Exercise Count: 11 progressive hands-on exercises
Workflow Patterns: 28 ready-to-use examples

🎓 Using These Materials

License & Usage

These materials are released under the MIT License. You are free to:

✅ Use for community events, workshops, and training
✅ Modify and customize for your audience
✅ Distribute to participants
✅ Create derivative works

Attribution appreciated but not required.

Recommended Approach

Don't change everything - The materials are tested and work well as-is
Customize minimally - Add your personality and local examples
Practice first - Run through once before delivering
Gather feedback - Use participant feedback to improve
Share back - Contribute improvements via PR

Customization Ideas

Add your branding - Logo, colors, contact info
Localize content - Language, cultural references, local examples
Adjust difficulty - More or fewer advanced topics based on audience
Change timing - Extend or compress based on available time
Add exercises - Include organization-specific scenarios

🌟 Workshop Format

Standard 2.5-Hour Format

0:00-0:15   Introduction & Concepts
0:15-0:30   Setup (CLI, repository, authentication)
0:30-2:00   Progressive Hands-on Exercises
              → Daily operations (standup reports)
              → CI/CD enhancement (coach & doctor)
              → Continuous improvement (tests, docs)
              → Issue management (triage, planning)
              → Advanced patterns (reuse, maintenance)
2:00-2:15   Wrap-up, Retrospective
2:15-2:30   Q&A and Open Discussion

Dual Track Option (3-3.5 Hours)

Beginner Track - Guided templates, understanding concepts
Advanced Track - Build from scratch, sophisticated patterns
Shared Sessions - Intro, setup, demo sharing, wrap-up

Extended Format (Half Day)

Add:

Break periods
Team collaboration exercises
Deeper dives into security and governance
Participant presentations
Office hours for individual projects

🏗️ Technology Stack

What Participants Will Use

GitHub CLI (gh) - Command line interface for GitHub
gh-aw Extension - GitHub Agentic Workflows CLI
Git - Version control
GitHub Account - With Copilot access
VS Code (optional) - For repository agent features

What Workflows Run On

GitHub Actions - Execution environment
GitHub Copilot API - AI intelligence
GitHub API - Repository interactions

Prerequisites

Windows, Mac, or Linux laptop
Admin rights to install software
Internet connection
Modern web browser

📊 Success Metrics

Workshop Outcomes

After completing this workshop, participants should be able to:

Explain what GitHub Agentic Workflows are and why they matter
Install and configure the gh-aw CLI
Create workflows using all three methods (CLI, cloud, repo agent)
Implement at least 5 different workflow patterns
Apply appropriate safety guardrails
Have a working repository with active automation
Continue building workflows independently

Facilitator Success Indicators

High engagement - Most participants complete exercises
Positive energy - Questions, excitement, discussion
Working demos - Workflows actually produce results
Clear takeaways - Participants know next steps
Community building - Attendees connect with each other

🤝 Contributing

We welcome improvements and adaptations! Here's how to contribute:

Reporting Issues

Found a problem? Please open an issue with:

Which material has the issue
What's wrong or unclear
Suggested improvement
Context (audience type, timing, etc.)

Suggesting Improvements

Have an idea? Create an issue or PR with:

Description of the improvement
Why it would help
Any testing you've done
Impact on timing or flow

Sharing Your Experience

Delivered the workshop? Please share:

Number of participants
What worked well
What needed adjustment
Questions that came up
Feedback from attendees
Photos/tweets (with permission)

Contributing New Materials

Want to add content? Consider:

New workflow patterns - Add to example-workflow-prompts.md
Advanced exercises - Extend facilitator guide
Translations - Localize materials
Slide decks - Share your presentation
Videos - Record and share (with permission)

🌍 Community