This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge
What I Built
Copilot Autopsy is a terminal-first forensic analysis tool that performs deep "autopsies" of any GitHub repository using GitHub Copilot CLI as the AI reasoning engine.
💡 Unlike traditional linters that just list problems, Copilot Autopsy explains WHY issues exist—powered entirely by GitHub Copilot CLI.
✨ The Problem It Solves
Developers run linters and get a list like:
❌ "Function too long" → But WHY?
❌ "Possible SQL injection" → But HOW do I fix it?
❌ "Missing tests" → But WHICH functions first?
Copilot Autopsy fixes this with AI-powered context:
✅ Explains the ROOT CAUSE of each issue
✅ Provides CONTEXT-AWARE fixes with code examples
✅ Prioritizes findings by SEVERITY and IMPACT
✅ Generates a beautiful AUTOPSY.md report
🏗️ Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ COPILOT AUTOPSY CLI │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Scanner │──▶│ Analyzer │──▶│Aggregator│──▶│ Reporter │ │
│ │ Module │ │ Module │ │ Module │ │ Module │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Detect │ │ GitHub │ │ AUTOPSY │ │
│ │ Language │ │ Copilot │ │ .md │ │
│ │Framework │ │ CLI ⭐ │ │ Report │ │
│ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
📁 Project Structure
copilot-autopsy/
├── 📄 bin/
│ └── copilot-autopsy.js # CLI entry point
├── 📁 src/
│ ├── cli.js # Commander.js setup
│ ├── index.js # Main orchestrator
│ ├── 📁 ui/ # Terminal UI components
│ │ ├── banner.js # ASCII art banner
│ │ └── progress.js # Progress bars & summary
│ ├── 📁 scanner/ # Project detection
│ │ ├── index.js # Scanner orchestrator
│ │ ├── 📁 detectors/
│ │ │ ├── language.js # Language detection
│ │ │ ├── framework.js # Framework detection
│ │ │ └── tooling.js # Tooling detection
│ │ └── 📁 collectors/
│ │ ├── files.js # Smart file prioritization
│ │ └── dependencies.js # Dependency parser
│ ├── 📁 analyzer/ # 🌟 AI analysis engine
│ │ ├── index.js # Analyzer orchestrator
│ │ ├── copilot.js # GitHub Copilot CLI wrapper
│ │ ├── 📁 prompts/
│ │ │ └── templates.js # 6 specialized prompts
│ │ └── 📁 analyzers/
│ │ ├── quality.js # Code quality analyzer
│ │ ├── security.js # Security analyzer (CWE)
│ │ ├── architecture.js # Architecture analyzer
│ │ ├── testing.js # Test gap analyzer
│ │ └── documentation.js# Documentation analyzer
│ ├── 📁 aggregator/
│ │ └── index.js # Deduplication & scoring
│ └── 📁 reporter/
│ └── index.js # AUTOPSY.md generator
├── 📄 package.json
└── 📄 README.md
🎯 Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| 🔍 Auto-Detection | Detects language, framework, tooling automatically |
| 📝 Code Quality | Finds code smells, SOLID violations, complexity |
| 🔒 Security | Vulnerabilities with CWE references |
| 🏗️ Architecture | Circular dependencies, coupling issues |
| 🧪 Testing | Missing tests, coverage gaps |
| 📚 Documentation | README and JSDoc analysis |
| 📊 Health Score | 0-100 score with visualization |
| 📋 Report | Beautiful AUTOPSY.md with action items |
| 🎨 Beautiful UI | ASCII art, progress bars, colors |
🎬 Demo
Installation
1. Install GitHub CLI
macOS:
brew install gh
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):
sudo apt install gh
Windows (choose one):
# Option 1: winget
winget install --id GitHub.cli
# Option 2: Chocolatey
choco install gh
# Option 3: Scoop
scoop install gh
# Option 4: Download from https://cli.github.com/
2. Setup Copilot CLI
⚠️ IMPORTANT: GitHub CLI and Copilot CLI are separate. You must install Copilot as an extension!
# Login to GitHub
gh auth login
# Verify login
gh auth status
# Install Copilot CLI extension
gh extension install github/gh-copilot
Windows users: When installing Copilot, you'll see:
? Authenticate Git with your GitHub credentials? (Y/n) y
! First copy your one-time code: XXXX-XXXX
Press Enter to open browser...
✓ Authentication complete.
# Verify Copilot works
gh copilot -p "test"
3. Install Copilot Autopsy
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/xdarwin13/copilot-autopsy.git
cd copilot-autopsy
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Install globally
npm install -g .
# Run on any repo!
autopsy
Terminal Output
____ _ _ _ _ _
/ ___|___ _ __ (_) | ___ | |_ / \ _ _| |_ ___ _ __ ___ _ _
| | / _ \| '_ \| | |/ _ \| __| / _ \| | | | __/ _ \| '_ \/ __| | | |
| |__| (_) | |_) | | | (_) | |_ / ___ \ |_| | || (_) | |_) \__ \ |_| |
\____\___/| .__/|_|_|\___/ \__/_/ \_\__,_|\__\___/| .__/|___/\__, |
|_| |_| |___/
╭───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ 🔬 Repository Forensics • Powered by GitHub Copilot CLI │
╰───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
📊 PROJECT DETECTION
────────────────────────────────────────
✓ Language: TypeScript (78%), JavaScript (22%)
✓ Framework: Next.js + React
✓ Tooling: ESLint, Prettier, Jest, GitHub Actions
✓ Files: 142 total (47 source)
🤖 COPILOT ANALYSIS
Powered by GitHub Copilot CLI
✓ 📝 Code Quality: 5 findings
✓ 🔒 Security: 2 findings
✓ 🏗️ Architecture: 3 findings
✓ 🧪 Testing: 4 findings
✓ 📚 Documentation: 2 findings
╭────────────────────────────────╮
│ │
│ 📋 AUTOPSY COMPLETE │
│ │
│ Health Score: 72/100 │
│ ██████████████░░░░░░ 72% │
│ │
│ 🔴 Critical: 1 🟠 High: 3 │
│ 🟡 Medium: 8 🟢 Low: 4 │
│ │
│ Duration: 45.2s │
│ Copilot CLI calls: 18 │
│ │
╰────────────────────────────────╯
Sample AUTOPSY.md Report
# 🔬 Repository Autopsy Report
## 📊 Executive Summary
| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| **Repository** | `my-project` |
| **Primary Language** | TypeScript |
| **Framework** | Next.js |
| **Health Score** | 72/100 |
### Health Score: 72/100
████████████████░░░░░░ 72%
## 🔍 Detailed Findings
### 🔒 Security Vulnerabilities
#### SEC-001: SQL Injection Risk
| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| **Severity** | 🔴 CRITICAL |
| **Location** | `src/api/users.ts:45` |
**Description:**
User input is directly concatenated into SQL query.
**Why This Matters:**
Attackers can manipulate the query to access or delete data.
**Suggested Fix:**
Use parameterized queries or an ORM.
🔧 CLI Options
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
--depth |
quick, standard, deep
|
standard |
--focus |
security, quality, architecture, testing, docs, all
|
all |
--path |
Target repository path | . |
--output |
Output file name | AUTOPSY.md |
--verbose |
Show Copilot CLI calls | false |
--fix |
Include code fix examples | false |
💡 My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI
The Core Integration
GitHub Copilot CLI is the brain of this project. Without it, Copilot Autopsy would have zero intelligence.
// src/analyzer/copilot.js - The heart of the tool
class CopilotCLI {
async query(prompt) {
// Send prompt to GitHub Copilot CLI
const result = execSync(
`gh copilot -p ${JSON.stringify(prompt)}`,
{ encoding: 'utf-8', timeout: 120000 }
);
return this.parseResponse(result);
}
}
Prompt Engineering
I designed 6 specialized prompts for different analysis types:
// Quality Analysis Prompt
const QUALITY_PROMPT = `
You are a senior code reviewer performing forensic analysis.
FILE: ${file.path}
\`\`\`${language}
${content}
\`\`\`
Analyze for:
1. Code smells (long methods, deep nesting)
2. SOLID violations
3. DRY violations
4. Complexity issues
For EACH issue, respond:
[QUAL-NNN] SEVERITY | LINE | Description | Why | Fix
`;
The "Why" Analysis - Unique Feature
What makes Copilot Autopsy special is the root cause analysis:
// Root Cause Prompt
const ROOT_CAUSE_PROMPT = `
Explain WHY this code issue exists, not just WHAT it is.
FINDING: ${finding.description}
CODE: ${codeContext}
Explain in 2-3 sentences:
1. The likely reason this was introduced
2. The technical debt it creates
3. The fix priority
`;
This gives developers context instead of just a list of problems.
Orchestration Strategy
I orchestrate 15-20 Copilot CLI calls into one coherent report:
Phase 1 (Parallel): Phase 2: Phase 3: Phase 4:
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Quality │ │Architecture │ │ Root Cause │ │ Report │
│ Security │────────▶│ Analysis │──▶│ Analysis │──▶│ Generation │
│ Docs │ │ │ │ (critical) │ │ │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
What I Learned
- Copilot CLI handles complex prompts well - Even 2000+ character prompts work
- Rate limiting is important - Added 1.5s delays between calls
- Response parsing requires creativity - Structured prompts help
-
The
-pflag is powerful - Usegh copilot -p "prompt"for non-interactive mode
🏆 Why This Project?
- Linters tell you WHAT, not WHY - Copilot CLI adds context
- Code reviews are time-consuming - Automate the first pass
- Security scanning is often shallow - AI understands intent
- Onboarding is hard - Health Score gives quick overview
📦 Tech Stack
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Runtime | Node.js 18+ |
| CLI Framework | Commander.js |
| Terminal UI | Chalk, Ora, Boxen |
| AI Engine | GitHub Copilot CLI ⭐ |
| Templating | Handlebars |
🔗 Links
🙏 Acknowledgments
Built with ❤️ for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge 2026
Special thanks to the GitHub Copilot team for creating such a powerful CLI tool!
⭐ If you found this useful, give it a star on GitHub! ⭐
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