Inbox Agent Setup

Before running any setup steps, use #askQuestions to ask: "Some required settings are missing for the Inbox agent. Would you like me to configure them automatically?" with choices "Yes, set up now" and "Skip for now".

If the user skips, stop and let them proceed without setup.

Step 0: Detect existing memory

Before touching VS Code settings, check whether the user already has inbox memory from a previous setup (e.g. Copilot CLI):

1. Run ls -la ~/.copilot/github-inbox-*.md 2>/dev/null to detect existing CLI memory/rules files.
2. Try #memory view /memories/github-inbox-memory.md and /memories/github-inbox-rules.md to detect existing VS Code memory.
3. Report what you found in plain language, e.g.:
   • "Found existing memory in ~/.copilot/: github-inbox-memory.md (84 lines), github-inbox-rules.md (16 rules)."
   • "No existing VS Code #memory files."
4. If existing memory was found in EITHER location, use #askQuestions to ask which the inbox agent should use:
   • "Use existing ~/.copilot/ files (recommended — keep your rules and history)"
   • "Use VS Code #memory (start fresh)"
   • "Use VS Code #memory and import from ~/.copilot/ (copy once, then use #memory)"
5. Record the choice in memory under a ## Backend section so future sessions don't re-prompt.

If no existing memory is found anywhere, default to #memory silently and continue.

Step 1: Check gh CLI

gh --version

If not installed, see the inbox-install-gh-cli skill.

Step 2: Configure VS Code settings

1. Ask the user for their VS Code settings.json path if needed, or check common locations (~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json on macOS, ~/.config/Code/User/settings.json on Linux, %APPDATA%\Code\User\settings.json on Windows)
2. Read settings using the read tool
3. Check which of the required settings below are missing
4. If ALL required settings are already present with correct values, skip this step
5. If any are missing, use VS Code's editFile tool to insert ONLY the missing keys into the user's settings.json. This is safer than terminal writes for JSON files.

CRITICAL: settings.json contains the user's entire VS Code configuration. You MUST NOT remove any existing content. Only ADD the specific missing keys. If chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove already exists with some rules, merge the new rules into the existing object — don't replace it.

Required settings to add if missing:

{
  "chat.customAgentInSubagent.enabled": true,
  "github.copilot.chat.githubMcpServer.enabled": true,
  "chat.tools.terminal.enableAutoApprove": true,
  "chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove": {
    "/^gh api (?!.*--method (PATCH|PUT|POST|DELETE))/": true,
    "/^gh search /": true,
    "gh issue view": true,
    "gh pr view": true,
    "gh --version": true,
    "gh config set": true
  }
}

Tell the user what was added and why:

• chat.customAgentInSubagent.enabled — Required. Enables sub-agent delegation (reviewer, triager, memory, investigator).
• github.copilot.chat.githubMcpServer.enabled — Enables richer features: PR reviews, comments, labels, assignees.
• chat.tools.terminal.enableAutoApprove + chat.tools.terminal.autoApprove — Auto-approves read-only gh commands.

Step 3: Enable auto-approve

After updating settings, tell the user:

"✅ Settings updated! One last step — I need to enable auto-approve so read-only commands don't prompt you every time.

👉 When you see the 'Run command?' prompt below, click the Allow ▾ dropdown and select 'Enable Auto Approve'.

This is a one-time opt-in. After this, read-only gh commands will run automatically."

Then run:

gh api /notifications --jq 'length'

This command matches the auto-approve rules. Wait for the user to click "Enable Auto Approve" before proceeding.

Step 4: Verify GitHub MCP server

Check if the GitHub MCP server is running. If github.copilot.chat.githubMcpServer.enabled was just added, tell the user:

"Make sure the GitHub MCP server is started and running. This gives you access to richer features like PR reviews, comments, and labels."

Step 5: Save setup status

After setup is complete, save to memory that setup has been completed:

Use the inbox-memory skill to save setup status:

Write to memory: "# Inbox Memory\n\n## Setup State\n- Setup completed on <date>\n- All required VS Code settings are present and verified\n"

If the memory file already exists, use delete first, then create with the merged content.