This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge
What I Built
Austen CLI brings literature and technology together by making AI-powered character analysis available directly in the terminal.
Technically, it’s meaningful as a fully self-contained CLI that integrates multiple APIs with a polished terminal experience.
At its core, the project reflects a love of literature and an interest in using CLI tools to make abstract ideas, like character relationships, easy to explore. Try it! ;)
Demo
https://github.com/herol3oy/austen-cli/
My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI
My experience with GitHub Copilot CLI was quite straightforward. As soon as I ran Copilot CLI, I jumped into /plan mode and started planning my CLI app. After a few iterations, I had a complete list of tasks and asked it to implement them. When the first version of the app was built, I was really surprised.
It was impressive how Copilot reasoned through the problem, asked for my permission before running commands, and moved forward step by step. I learned a lot from debugging throughout the entire process.
At some point, I wondered if there were best practices for using Copilot CLI, so I searched it and I was right:
https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/copilot/how-tos/copilot-cli/cli-best-practices
Thanks to the article, I found I can create a .github/copilot-instructions.md. So I did that with some simple but important instructions which I need the Copilot to always consider them.
Anyway, I kept getting new ideas, and with just one or two prompts I was building new features. I eventually went a bit too far and added a killer feature to the app. To make sure it worked well, I planned it carefully and explained it clearly to Copilot. With a single prompt, we built it. I nailed it!
Now the app generates a unique URL for each diagram and lets users share it with friends. That is just remarkable!
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