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The instructions in the .github/copilot-instructions.md file are available for use by {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_chat_short %} as soon as you save the file. The complete set of instructions will be automatically attached to requests that you submit in either the {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_chat_short %} view, or in inline chat.
Custom instructions are not visible in the Chat view or inline chat, but you can verify that they are being used by {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} by looking at the References list of a response in the Chat view. If custom instructions were added to the prompt that was sent to the model, the .github/copilot-instructions.md file is listed as a reference. You can click the reference to open the file.