Squad Squad

Remote Q&A with Squad

⚠️ Experimental — Squad is alpha software. APIs, commands, and behavior may change between releases.

Try this:

@copilot How does authentication work in this project?

You don’t always have the repo cloned locally. Sometimes you want to ask your Squad a question from the browser, the GitHub CLI, or a mobile device — without pulling code.

Current options

Squad already supports several remote interaction paths. Each trades off convenience, depth, and setup effort.

1. Copilot Chat with squad.agent.md

If the repo has .github/agents/squad.agent.md, GitHub Copilot Chat reads it automatically when you ask questions about the repo.

How it works:

  • Open the repo in GitHub.com
  • Use Copilot Chat in the browser
  • Copilot reads the agent file and answers using your team’s context

Good for: Quick questions about architecture, team structure, and project conventions.

Limitation: Copilot reads the default branch only. You can’t point it at a feature branch.

2. Assign an issue to @copilot

Create a GitHub issue and assign it to @copilot. If the repo has Squad’s issue-assign workflow (.github/workflows/squad-issue-assign.yml), the coding agent picks up the issue and works it using your Squad configuration.

How it works:

  1. Create an issue describing the question or task
  2. Assign it to @copilot
  3. The workflow triggers and Squad processes it

Good for: Tasks that need code changes, research across files, or multi-step investigation.

Limitation: Designed for work items, not conversational Q&A. The workflow runs against the default branch.

3. Use squad: labels on issues

Add a squad:{member} label to any issue, and Squad routes it to the right team member.

How it works:

  1. Create or label an issue with squad:fenster (or any member name)
  2. The triage workflow assigns it to the appropriate agent
  3. Work proceeds through the normal Squad flow

Good for: Routing specific work to specific team members without cloning.

Limitation: Requires label setup on the repo. Routes work, not questions.

What’s not supported yet

These features don’t exist today but would make remote Q&A more powerful:

Branch-aware queries

All current remote paths read the default branch. You can’t ask “How does auth work on the feature/oauth branch?” and get branch-specific answers.

Workaround: Mention the branch in your question and ask the agent to check out that branch during investigation.

GitHub Discussions integration

A Discussions-based Q&A channel where Squad monitors and answers questions would make remote interaction feel conversational. This would need a new workflow trigger on discussion events.

Issue comment commands

A /squad ask "question" command in issue comments that triggers Squad to respond inline would enable threaded Q&A without creating new issues.

Tips

  • Start with Copilot Chat. It’s the lowest-effort path and works today for repos with squad.agent.md.
  • Use issues for anything that needs code. Copilot Chat answers questions; issues drive work.
  • Include context in your question. Remote paths don’t have your local state. Be specific about which files, features, or branches you mean.
  • Check the default branch. All remote paths currently read main (or whatever the repo’s default branch is). If you’re asking about unreleased work, mention the branch explicitly.