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This article covers the manual install path. Most users should start with the one-shot installer on Windows or GitHub Codespaces in the browser. Both options do the cloning, dependency install, and VS Code setup for you. Use the manual install when you want full control over what gets installed where, or when you're on macOS or Linux and prefer a local setup over Codespaces.
In this step, you get the kit on your computer and open it in Visual Studio Code. The whole step takes about 5 minutes.
Important
Open the solutions/ess-maker-skills subfolder as your workspace, NOT the top level of the repo. The kit's commands only work when ess-maker-skills is the workspace root.
Before you start
You need:
- Git - if you don't have it, download from git-scm.com.
- Visual Studio Code - if you don't have it, download from code.visualstudio.com.
To confirm both are installed, open a terminal and run:
git --version
code --version
Both commands should print a version number.
Clone the repo
Open a terminal in the folder where you want to keep the kit (for example, your Documents or a GitHub folder under your home directory). Run:
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/Employee-Self-Service-Agent-Developer-Kit.git
Git downloads the repo into a new folder named Employee-Self-Service-Agent-Developer-Kit.
Open the right folder in VS Code
In the same terminal, change into the repo and open VS Code on the ess-maker-skills subfolder:
cd Employee-Self-Service-Agent-Developer-Kit
code solutions/ess-maker-skills
The code command opens VS Code with that folder as the workspace.
If you prefer to use VS Code's UI:
- Open VS Code.
- Select File > Open Folder.
- Navigate to where you cloned the repo.
- Open
Employee-Self-Service-Agent-Developer-Kit->solutions->ess-maker-skills. - Select Select Folder.
You should see
When VS Code opens, the Explorer pane on the left should show ESS-MAKER-SKILLS at the top, with these folders directly underneath:
ESS-MAKER-SKILLS
.github
.vscode
scripts
src
If the Explorer shows EMPLOYEE-SELF-SERVICE-AGENT-DEVELOPER-KIT at the top instead (with extra folders like .github, samples, solutions, tests), you opened the wrong folder. Close the workspace and reopen solutions/ess-maker-skills.
Accept the recommended extensions
VS Code may show a notification in the lower-right asking if you want to install the workspace's recommended extensions. Select Install. The kit needs the GitHub Copilot Chat extension, which you set up in the next step.
Next step
Continue with Step 2: Install GitHub Copilot Chat.