Slash Commands in Depth

Unlock the full potential of GitHub Copilot’s slash commands right inside Visual Studio. While these powerful shortcuts also work in Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise users enjoy GitHub Copilot Free—2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month—directly from their IDE without extra cost.

Core Slash Commands

Use these four slash commands for everyday productivity:

Additional Slash Commands

Beyond the essentials, Copilot offers specialized commands to streamline your workflow:

How to Access Slash Commands

Invoke slash commands in three simple ways:

1. Type a forward slash (/) in the Copilot Chat message box.
2. Click the Slash button in the GitHub Copilot chat pane.
3. Use inline chat: press Alt + / (or your custom shortcut), right-click in the editor, and choose Ask Copilot.

Seamless Integration

Whether you prefer a dedicated chat window or inline interactions, slash commands keep you focused:

• Dedicated Chat Pane: Maintain a continuous conversation without switching contexts.
• Inline Chat: Invoke Copilot suggestions right beside your code.
• Unified Workflow: Both methods preserve your coding flow and history.

Demo: Slash Commands in Visual Studio

Below is a quick walkthrough showing how slash commands speed up documentation, explanation, and testing tasks.

1. Generate XML Documentation

Open Program.cs, position the cursor, and type:

/doc

Copilot injects XML comments for methods and classes:

using KodexKloudDemo.Client.Pages;
using KodexKloudDemo.Components;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddRazorComponents()
    .AddInteractiveWebAssemblyComponents();

var app = builder.Build();

if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseWebAssemblyDebugging();
}
else
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error", createScopeForErrors: true);
    // The default HSTS value is 30 days. You may want to change this for production scenarios.
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();
app.UseAntiforgery();

app.MapRazorComponents<App>()
    .AddInteractiveWebAssemblyRendererMode();

In a Razor component:

@page "/counter"
@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components

<h3>Counter</h3>
<p>Current count: @currentCount</p>
<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="IncrementCount">Click me</button>

@code {
    /// <summary>
    /// The current count value.
    /// </summary>
    private int currentCount = 0;

    /// <summary>
    /// Increments the current count value by one.
    /// </summary>
    private void IncrementCount()
    {
        currentCount++;
    }
}

2. Explain Code with /explain

Select a block:

app.MapRazorComponents<App>()
    .AddInteractiveWebAssemblyRendererMode()
    .AddAdditionalAssemblies(typeof(KodeKloudDemo.Client.Imports).Assembly);

Type /explain to get a step-by-step breakdown of each API call.

3. Generate Unit Tests with /test

Highlight methods and type:

/test

Copilot scaffolds an xUnit project and test files:

dotnet new xunit -o KodeKloudDemo.Tests
cd KodeKloudDemo.Tests

In seconds, you’ll have a suite of unit tests covering the selected code paths.

With these slash commands at your fingertips, you can document, explain, fix, test, and optimize your code—all without leaving your editor.

Links and References

• GitHub Copilot Slash Commands
• Visual Studio Documentation
• Visual Studio Code Slash Commands
• PEP 257 – Python Docstring Conventions
• xUnit Documentation