CopilotCli Agent Class

This page documents the CopilotCli class in detail: its inheritance hierarchy, the interfaces it implements, every public method, and the runtime environment detection logic that shapes the MCP server configuration it produces.

For background on how CopilotCli is registered with the Boost framework, see the service provider page 4.3. For how the MCP configuration payload it produces is consumed at runtime, see 4.4.

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Class Identity

CopilotCli lives in src/CopilotCli.php and is the single PHP class this package contributes to the Laravel Boost agent system.

Property	Value
Namespace	Revolution\Laravel\Boost
Extends	Laravel\Boost\Install\Agents\Agent
Implements	SupportsGuidelines, SupportsMcp, SupportsSkills
Agent key	copilot-cli

Class declaration src/CopilotCli.php14

CopilotCli extends Agent implements SupportsGuidelines, SupportsMcp, SupportsSkills

The three interfaces each require a distinct subset of methods, mapping to three concerns: writing AI instruction files, writing MCP server configuration, and writing agent skill files.

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Inheritance and Interface Map

Diagram: Class structure and interface obligations

Sources: src/CopilotCli.php1-14

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Public Methods Reference

Identification Methods

Method	Return value	Notes
name()	'copilot-cli'	Used as the registry key when Boost::registerAgent() is called
displayName()	'GitHub Copilot CLI'	Human-readable label shown in install prompts

src/CopilotCli.php20-28

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Detection Methods

Detection drives two questions: is the copilot binary installed system-wide, and does this project look like it already uses Copilot CLI?

systemDetectionConfig(Platform $platform)

Returns a shell command to check whether copilot is on the system PATH.

Platform	Strategy	Command
Platform::Darwin (macOS)	shell command	command -v copilot
Platform::Linux	shell command	command -v copilot
Platform::Windows	shell command	where copilot 2>nul

src/CopilotCli.php35-47

projectDetectionConfig()

Returns a file presence check. If .github/copilot-instructions.md exists in the project root, the project is considered already configured for Copilot CLI.

['files' => ['.github/copilot-instructions.md']]

src/CopilotCli.php54-59

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File Path Methods

These methods tell the Boost installer where to write the generated files.

Method	Default path	Config key override
guidelinesPath()	.github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md	boost.agents.copilot_cli.guidelines_path
skillsPath()	.github/skills	boost.agents.copilot_cli.skills_path
mcpConfigPath()	.github/mcp-config.json	(hardcoded, no override)

src/CopilotCli.php66-83

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MCP Configuration Methods

mcpInstallationStrategy()

Inherited from Agent. Returns McpInstallationStrategy::FILE, meaning the MCP server definition is written to a JSON file (.github/mcp-config.json) rather than being registered in a system-level config store.

tests/Feature/CopilotCliTest.php49-55

mcpServerConfig(string $command, array $args = [], array $env = [])

Builds the MCP server payload that is written into .github/mcp-config.json. The command parameter is the PHP executable path or equivalent detected at install time by the Boost framework.

The returned array always has this shape:

Key	Value
type	'local'
command	Result of convertCommandToPhpPath($command)
args	['artisan', 'boost:mcp'] normally; ['boost:mcp'] in Testbench
env	Passed-through $env array
tools	['*'] (all tools)

The args array omits 'artisan' when running in Testbench because vendor/bin/testbench already routes to Artisan. src/CopilotCli.php91-103

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Environment Detection and convertCommandToPhpPath

convertCommandToPhpPath is the most complex method in the class. It takes the raw command string (e.g., 'php', './vendor/bin/sail') and returns the command that should actually appear in mcp-config.json.

Diagram: convertCommandToPhpPath decision flow

Sources: src/CopilotCli.php108-122

Branch explanation

Environment	Detection	Resolved command	Args
Orchestra Testbench	TESTBENCH_CORE constant defined, or $fake_testbench	./vendor/bin/testbench	['boost:mcp']
WSL	WSL_DISTRO_NAME or IS_WSL env var set, or $fake_wsl	php (via getPhpPath())	['artisan', 'boost:mcp']
Laravel Sail	Command path ends with sail	./vendor/bin/sail	['artisan', 'boost:mcp']
Standard	None of the above	Command as passed in	['artisan', 'boost:mcp']

The Testbench branch is checked first and takes precedence over all other branches. The WSL branch is checked second. The Sail detection uses Str::afterLast($command, '/') so both ./vendor/bin/sail and an absolute path like /home/user/project/vendor/bin/sail are caught.

src/CopilotCli.php108-131 tests/Feature/CopilotCliTest.php71-97

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Environment Detection Internals

isRunningInTestbench()

Public method. Returns true if the TESTBENCH_CORE PHP constant is defined (which Orchestra Testbench sets automatically), or if the $fake_testbench static flag has been set via fake().

src/CopilotCli.php133-140

isRunningInsideWsl()

Protected method. Reads the WSL_DISTRO_NAME and IS_WSL environment variables via getenv(). Either being non-empty is sufficient to return true. Also returns true when $fake_wsl is set.

src/CopilotCli.php124-131

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Static Testing Seam: fake()

CopilotCli provides a static fake() method specifically for test isolation. Because Testbench and WSL detection depend on environment constants and variables that are difficult to control in unit tests, fake() sets two static boolean flags that override the real detection logic.

public static function fake(bool $testbench = true, bool $wsl = true): void

Both parameters default to true. To simulate only WSL without Testbench, call CopilotCli::fake(testbench: false, wsl: true).

Important: Because the flags are static, they persist across test cases. The test suite always resets them explicitly after use:

tests/Feature/CopilotCliTest.php71-81

Diagram: fake() state machine and affected methods

Sources: src/CopilotCli.php16-18 src/CopilotCli.php145-149 tests/Feature/CopilotCliTest.php99-135

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Complete Method Summary

Method	Visibility	Interface	Returns
name()	public	Agent	string — 'copilot-cli'
displayName()	public	Agent	string — 'GitHub Copilot CLI'
systemDetectionConfig(Platform)	public	Agent	array{command: string}
projectDetectionConfig()	public	Agent	array{files: string[]}
guidelinesPath()	public	SupportsGuidelines	string
skillsPath()	public	SupportsSkills	string
mcpConfigPath()	public	SupportsMcp	string — '.github/mcp-config.json'
mcpServerConfig(command, args, env)	public	SupportsMcp	array<string, mixed>
convertCommandToPhpPath(command)	public	(own)	string
isRunningInTestbench()	public	(own)	bool
isRunningInsideWsl()	protected	(own)	bool
fake(testbench, wsl)	public static	(own)	void

Sources: src/CopilotCli.php1-150