Install the Agent Developer Kit with GitHub Codespaces

  • Applies to: ✅ Microsoft 365 Copilot

GitHub Codespaces gives you a cloud-hosted Visual Studio Code in the browser, with the kit preinstalled. You don't install anything on your own machine. The whole step takes about 5 minutes.

Use Codespaces when:

  • You can't install software locally (corporate-managed device, locked-down environment).
  • You're on macOS, Linux, or any non-Windows machine.
  • You want to try the kit before deciding whether to install it locally.

Before you start

You need:

  • A GitHub account with an active GitHub Copilot subscription.
  • A modern browser.

Codespaces includes a free tier of 120 core-hours per month (60 hours on the 2-core machine the kit uses). The Codespace pauses automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity, so you're only billed for time you're actively working.

If your GitHub account is part of an organization and Codespaces isn't available, your administrator may need to enable it. See Managing Codespaces for your organization.

Create the Codespace

  1. Open this link in your browser:

    https://github.com/codespaces/new?repo=microsoft/Employee-Self-Service-Agent-Developer-Kit&ref=main&devcontainer_path=.devcontainer%2Fdevcontainer.json

  2. Sign in to GitHub if prompted.

  3. On the Create codespace page, leave the defaults and select the 2-core machine type.

  4. Select Create codespace.

GitHub builds the Codespace. The first build takes a couple of minutes because it installs Python, the kit's dependencies, and the GitHub Copilot extensions. Subsequent starts of the same Codespace are faster.

Open the right folder

When the Codespace finishes building, you land in VS Code in the browser at the repo root. The kit's commands only work when ess-maker-skills is the workspace root.

  1. From the menu, select File > Open Folder.
  2. Enter /workspaces/Employee-Self-Service-Agent-Developer-Kit/solutions/ess-maker-skills.
  3. Select OK.

VS Code reloads with the right folder open.

You should see

The Explorer pane shows ESS-MAKER-SKILLS at the top, with these folders directly underneath:

ESS-MAKER-SKILLS
  .github
  .vscode
  scripts
  src

If the Explorer shows the full repo name at the top with extra folders like samples, solutions, and tests, you opened the wrong folder. Select File > Open Folder again and use the path in the previous section.

The kit asks the model to detect tools, follow multi-step instructions, and write valid YAML. Not all models do these actions equally well.

Open the Copilot Chat pane (the Chat icon on the activity bar). On the top of the chat pane, there's a model picker. Pick a current frontier model from one of these families:

Model family Why
Claude Sonnet (latest available) Recommended. Reliable tool detection and multi-step instruction-following.
Claude Opus (latest available) Recommended. Same strengths as Sonnet; higher quality, slightly slower.
OpenAI Codex or GPT-5 class (latest available) Recommended. Works well for the kit's setup flows.

Note

The models in the picker change over time as new versions ship. Pick the most recent version available in one of the previously listed families rather than an exact version number.

If you don't see any of these families in the picker, they may not be enabled by your organization. Choose the closest equivalent. If the kit later reports that it can't find its tools, the most common fix is to switch to a recommended model.

Manage your Codespace

You can stop, restart, and delete your Codespace from github.com/codespaces. Your work is saved between sessions. When you're done with the kit, delete the Codespace to free up your storage quota.

Next step

Continue with Run your first command.

If the Codespace didn't build or doesn't open the right folder, see Troubleshoot getting started.

  • Last updated on