🧭 onboarding-buddy

Day-one onboarding mentor. It gives new engineers a map of the codebase, checks their toolchain, walks them through setup step by step, explains team terms, finds code owners, and suggests a safe first task.


Version	1.0.0
Format	Agent Plugins 1.0 + `com.github.copilot` extensions
Works in	VS Code · GitHub Copilot CLI · GitHub Copilot app
Requires	Node.js 18+ and `git` on `PATH`
Network access	None. Read-only analysis of your local repository

What's inside

Component	Name	Location	Portable?
Skill	`day-one-setup`	skills/day-one-setup/	✅ Agent Plugins standard
MCP server	`repo-atlas` (stdio)	mcp.json → servers/repo-atlas.mjs	✅ Agent Plugins standard
Custom agent	`onboarding-buddy`	com.github.copilot/agents/	Copilot clients
Hooks	`sessionStart`, `userPromptSubmitted`	com.github.copilot/hooks/hooks.json	Copilot clients
Slash command	`/onboard-me`	com.github.copilot/commands/	Copilot clients
Automation template	Daily learning digest	automations/	VS Code only

`repo-atlas` MCP tools (all read-only)

Tool	What it returns
`map_repository`	Languages, frameworks, top-level folders and their purpose, entry points, docs, CI workflows, and Copilot customizations
`find_setup_steps`	Prerequisites, install/run/test commands, Makefile targets, dev container, and README setup sections
`who_owns`	CODEOWNERS owners and top recent contributors for a path
`glossary_lookup`	Team terms from the bundled glossary plus `GLOSSARY.md`, `docs/glossary.md`, or `.github/onboarding/glossary.json` in the repository
`suggest_first_tasks`	TODO/FIXME items, modules without tests, doc gaps, and labeled starter issues

Hooks

Event	Behavior
`sessionStart`	Adds a short repository orientation (stack, install/run/test commands, dev container)
`userPromptSubmitted`	Opt-in only. Records onboarding questions locally so the docs team can find FAQ gaps

Install

copilot plugin marketplace add sekar3s/octocat-agent-plugins-demo
copilot plugin install onboarding-buddy@octocat-agent-plugins

VS Code and the GitHub Copilot app are covered in the installation guide. To install it automatically for every developer, see enterprise deployment.

Use it

Try this	Where
`/onboard-me`	Any client
"I'm new here. How do I run this project?" / "Who owns the orders API?"	Any client (the skill loads automatically)
onboarding-buddy agent	VS Code agent picker · CLI `copilot --agent onboarding-buddy:onboarding-buddy` · Copilot app agent picker
`node skills/day-one-setup/scripts/check-toolchain.mjs --path <repo>`	Terminal (no AI needed)

Add your team's glossary

Commit docs/glossary.md with lines like - **Term** — definition (or a | Term | Definition | table), or .github/onboarding/glossary.json with { "Term": "Definition" }. Repository terms are merged with the bundled ones. demo/octocat-glossary.json is an example.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Effect
`ONBOARDING_BUDDY_CONTEXT`	on	Set to `off` to skip the session-start orientation
`ONBOARDING_BUDDY_CAPTURE_QUESTIONS`	unset	Set to `1` (together with `OCTOCAT_PLUGINS_AUDIT_DIR`) to record prompts locally for FAQ mining. Tell users before you turn this on
`OCTOCAT_PLUGINS_AUDIT_DIR`	unset	Local directory for JSONL logs
`REPO_ATLAS_GLOSSARY`	bundled	Path to an alternative bundled glossary JSON (set in `mcp.json`)

Remove

copilot plugin uninstall onboarding-buddy

See the uninstall guide.