TEMPLATES

Use VS Code + GitHub Copilot as a productivity platform for any professional — create documents, reports, dashboards, presentations, diagrams, spreadsheets, and everything else you need in your daily work.

No code. No terminal. Just prompts, agents, and skills working for you.

Clone this repo, run /onboard, and start generating enterprise-grade deliverables in minutes.

This is a GitHub Template. Click "Use this template" on the repo page to create your own copy.

Quick Start

# 1. Use this template (click "Use this template" on GitHub) or clone
git clone https://github.com/<your-org>/TEMPLATES.git
cd TEMPLATES

# 2. Start the MCP server (Docker required)
cd mcp-servers
cp .env.example .env
make up

# 3. Open in VS Code
cd .. && code .

# 4. Run the onboarding wizard
# In VS Code Copilot chat, type: /onboard

Post-Clone Checklist

After using this template, update these files with your info:

What You Can Create

Every output is saved to output/ with versioning, archiving, and Microsoft branding applied automatically.

What's Inside

15 Agent Modes

Custom persistent modes you can switch to in VS Code or Claude Code.

16 Slash Commands (Prompts)

One-shot tasks you trigger with /command in the chat.

10 Skills (Domain Knowledge)

Skills are loaded by agents before generating output — they contain branding, templates, and quality checklists.

5 Auto-Applied Instructions

Rules that activate automatically when editing specific file types.

Architecture

TEMPLATES/
├── .github/
│   ├── agents/           # 15 custom agent modes (.agent.md)
│   ├── instructions/     # 5 auto-applied rules (.instructions.md)
│   ├── prompts/          # 16 slash commands (.prompt.md)
│   ├── skills/           # 10 domain knowledge packs (SKILL.md)
│   └── copilot-instructions.md  # Workspace-wide rules (always loaded)
│
├── context/              # Working context (gitignored)
│   ├── CLIENT.md         # Master profile (template)
│   ├── transcriptions/   # Teams .vtt recordings
│   ├── emails/           # Email threads as markdown
│   ├── messages/         # Teams/Slack messages
│   ├── documents/        # Shared documents
│   ├── notes/            # Manual observations
│   └── journal/          # Meeting summaries and decisions
│
├── output/               # Generated deliverables (gitignored)
│   ├── docx/             # Word documents + archive/
│   ├── pptx/             # PowerPoint files + archive/
│   ├── html/             # HTML diagrams + archive/
│   ├── pdf/              # PDF documents + archive/
│   ├── xlsx/             # Excel workbooks + archive/
│   └── md/               # Markdown documents + archive/
│
├── mcp-servers/          # Local MCP ecosystem (Docker)
│   ├── src/tools/        # 9 tool modules (39 tools total)
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   └── Makefile
│
├── docs/                 # Reference guides and best practices
├── logos/                # Logo assets for documents and presentations
├── sources/              # Reference materials (PDFs, guides)
├── AGENTS.md             # For AI coding agents (Copilot, Claude Code, Codex)
├── CLAUDE.md             # For Claude Code sessions
├── CONTRIBUTING.md       # How to add agents, skills, prompts, instructions
└── README.md             # This file

AI Primitives Hierarchy

This repo uses 5 types of AI customization files that work together:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  copilot-instructions.md    (always loaded)      │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  .instructions.md   (auto-apply by file)  │  │
│  │  ┌───────────────────────────────────┐    │  │
│  │  │  .agent.md  ←loads→  SKILL.md     │    │  │
│  │  │       ↑                           │    │  │
│  │  │  .prompt.md  (routes via agent:)  │    │  │
│  │  └───────────────────────────────────┘    │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Agents load skills via Step 0: Load Skill Knowledge before generating
• Prompts route to agents via the agent field in frontmatter
• Instructions auto-apply when editing matching file types
• Skills are the single source of truth — agents never hardcode what skills define

MCP Server

A local MCP ecosystem server running at http://localhost:3100/mcp via Docker. Exposes 39 tools from 9 open-source projects:

cd mcp-servers && make up       # Start (auto-restarts on boot)
cd mcp-servers && make health   # Verify: {"status":"ok"}
cd mcp-servers && make logs     # Tail logs
cd mcp-servers && make down     # Stop

Client Workflow

1. Set up your workspace

Run /onboard in VS Code Copilot chat. The Orchestrator agent will:

• Ask structured questions (your info, strategic themes, context)
• Fill context/CLIENT.md with real data
• Start the MCP server
• Validate the workspace is ready
• Suggest first actions

2. Create deliverables

3. Build knowledge over time

Every meeting transcription, email, and document feeds into context/. The Meeting Analyst agent processes these into structured journal entries, keeping your workspace context rich and organized.

Branding

All generated documents use Microsoft branding by default:

Factual Integrity

All agents follow strict factual integrity rules:

• NEVER fabricate metrics, KPIs, ROI, market data, or statistics
• Every data claim must include a hyperlink to a credible source
• Credible sources: Gartner, Forrester, Microsoft Learn, GitHub Docs, Anthropic Blog, Azure Architecture Center
• If no source exists, state as assumption or omit entirely
• Every document includes a References section

Document Versioning

All generated documents follow this pattern:

• Filename: {Title}_v{version}_{YYYY-MM-DD}.{ext}
• Save to: output/{format}/ (e.g., output/docx/)
• Archive: Previous versions move to output/{format}/archive/
• Metadata: Every document includes date, version (semver), and author name

Setup for Different Clients

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

The .vscode/settings.json auto-registers the MCP server. Just open the folder in VS Code.

Claude Code

claude mcp add mcp-ecosystem --transport http --url http://localhost:3100/mcp

The .claude/settings.json pre-configures permissions.

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-ecosystem": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3100/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Security

• Context data (context/) is gitignored — never committed
• Generated output files are gitignored — only .gitkeep structure is tracked
• MCP server binds to localhost only
• Docker containers run as non-root user
• .env files are gitignored — use .env.example as reference
• No API keys or tokens in the repository

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to add new agents, skills, prompts, and instructions.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.