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    VS Code And GitHub Copilot Student

    Goal: activate the recommended no-cost student agent route and prove that it can inspect the fictional training repository assigned by your passport.

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    Goal: activate the recommended no-cost student agent route and prove that it can inspect the fictional training repository assigned by your passport.

    Prerequisites:

    • a personal GitHub account with MFA;
    • a verified ETH email on that account;
    • GitHub Education verification completed through the Git workflow;
    • VS Code and the passport's manual Git mission working. If you are following the current workbook before generated-passport cutover, complete its assigned FirstSteps task instead.

    Execution context: GitHub settings in your browser and VS Code on your local computer. Do not test with a confidential or unpublished project.

    GitHub Copilot Student is a personal GitHub Education benefit. It is not a GitHub Copilot subscription purchased or administered by ETH or IDEAL Lab.

    1. Confirm The Student Benefit#

    1. Open https://github.com/settings/education/benefits while signed into the GitHub account used for IDEAL Lab work.
    2. Confirm that GitHub Education identifies you as a verified student.
    3. Follow GitHub's GitHub Copilot Student activation link.
    4. Read the current included usage and model restrictions before accepting.

    Expected result: your GitHub Copilot settings identify the no-cost Student plan. If GitHub asks you to buy a plan or add a payment method, stop; do not pay to complete onboarding.

    2. Connect VS Code#

    1. Open VS Code on your local computer.
    2. Install the extensions published by GitHub named GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat if VS Code does not already provide them.
    3. Select the Accounts icon and sign in with the same verified GitHub account.
    4. Open the local fictional training folder assigned by your passport.
    5. Open the Chat or Agents view and select the GitHub Copilot agent/harness.

    Do not enable automatic approval for all tools or terminal commands.

    3. Run A Read-Only Check#

    Start a new session and enter:

    Inspect this training repository without editing files or running commands.
Identify its top-level instructions, Python source, declared checks, and current
Git task. List the files you inspected and state what you still need to verify.

    Expected result: the response refers to the actual assigned fixture files and does not modify the working tree. Verify locally:

    git status --short

    A blank result means no tracked or untracked change was produced.

    Verification#

    • GitHub shows Copilot Student rather than a paid subscription.
    • VS Code is signed into the intended GitHub account.
    • The assigned repository is local, fictional training material.
    • The read-only request leaves git status --short blank.
    • You know where to stop the session and inspect proposed commands and diffs.

    Common Failures And Safe Recovery#

    • Education verification is pending: continue the manual onboarding path and return later. Do not create a paid subscription for the passport.
    • Wrong GitHub account in VS Code: sign out of GitHub in VS Code, restart, and sign in with the verified account.
    • Copilot opens but agent features are unavailable: check current Student allowance and entitlement. Continue manually if the allowance is exhausted.
    • The read-only request changed files: stop the session, inspect git status and git diff, and restore only the unwanted understood paths. Do not use git reset --hard.
    • The extension requests unexpected repository or account access: cancel and ask the onboarding maintainer before granting it.

    Understand Before Accepting AI Output#

    • Copilot Student belongs to my personal GitHub account.
    • No payment is required for the documented student route.
    • Eligibility does not approve confidential project data for the service.
    • I can inspect the repository state independently of the agent.
    • I will review every command and changed file.

    Ask For Help When#

    GitHub shows a paid checkout, verification remains unresolved, the account in VS Code differs from the verified account, or the extension requests broader access than the fictional training repository requires.

    Primary Sources#

    Verified: 2026-08-26. Review by: 2026-11-26. Owner: lab software maintainer.