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Learning Hub: Agents and subagents#1261

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feature/learning-hub-agents-subagents
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Learning Hub: Agents and subagents#1261
aaronpowell wants to merge 1 commit intostagedfrom
feature/learning-hub-agents-subagents

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@aaronpowell aaronpowell commented Apr 2, 2026

Pull Request Checklist

  • I have read and followed the CONTRIBUTING.md guidelines.
  • I have read and followed the Guidance for submissions involving paid services.
  • My contribution adds a new instruction, prompt, agent, skill, or workflow file in the correct directory.
  • The file follows the required naming convention.
  • The content is clearly structured and follows the example format.
  • I have tested my instructions, prompt, agent, skill, or workflow with GitHub Copilot.
  • I have run npm start and verified that README.md is up to date.
  • I am targeting the staged branch for this pull request.

Description

New page on the learning hub about agents and subagents.


Type of Contribution

  • New instruction file.
  • New prompt file.
  • New agent file.
  • New plugin.
  • New skill file.
  • New agentic workflow.
  • Update to existing instruction, prompt, agent, plugin, skill, or workflow.
  • Other (please specify):

Additional Notes


By submitting this pull request, I confirm that my contribution abides by the Code of Conduct and will be licensed under the MIT License.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 2, 2026 04:06
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Pull request overview

Adds a new Learning Hub Fundamentals article explaining delegated subagents, and wires it into the Learning Hub navigation and cross-references so readers can discover it from existing agent documentation.

Changes:

  • Introduces a new “Agents and Subagents” Learning Hub page covering mental models, VS Code usage, and Copilot CLI /fleet.
  • Adds cross-links from existing Learning Hub pages (agents overview, glossary, fundamentals index, related articles).
  • Updates the Starlight sidebar to include the new page in the Fundamentals track.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file
File Description
website/src/content/docs/learning-hub/what-are-agents-skills-instructions.md Links agents concept to the new agents/subagents delegation article.
website/src/content/docs/learning-hub/index.md Adds a Fundamentals-track pointer to the new delegation/orchestration article.
website/src/content/docs/learning-hub/github-copilot-terminology-glossary.md Extends glossary with “Subagent” and “Handoff”, and links to the new article.
website/src/content/docs/learning-hub/building-custom-agents.md Adds the new article as a related reading item.
website/src/content/docs/learning-hub/agents-and-subagents.md New article describing agent vs subagent mental model and launch patterns.
website/astro.config.mjs Adds the new article into the “Fundamentals” sidebar ordering.

Comment on lines +68 to +71
### 1. Enable the agent tool

Use the `agent` tool in frontmatter so the main agent can launch other agents:

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The doc says to enable delegation by adding the agent tool in frontmatter, but the repo’s own agent examples use runSubagent/agent/runSubagent (e.g., agents/context7.agent.md uses agent/runSubagent, and agents/azure-iac-exporter.agent.md uses runSubagent). Consider updating this section to match the tool names used in this repo (or explicitly document which tool name applies to which Copilot surface) so readers can copy/paste a working config.

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## Important platform nuance: handoffs are not universal

VS Code documentation describes both subagents and the `handoffs` frontmatter property. GitHub's custom agent configuration reference, however, notes that `handoffs` and `argument-hint` are currently ignored for Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com.
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This section references “GitHub's custom agent configuration reference” to state that handoffs/argument-hint are ignored on GitHub.com, but it doesn’t link to the referenced documentation. Adding an explicit URL would make the claim verifiable and help readers find the authoritative source.

Suggested change
VS Code documentation describes both subagents and the `handoffs` frontmatter property. GitHub's custom agent configuration reference, however, notes that `handoffs` and `argument-hint` are currently ignored for Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com.
VS Code documentation describes both subagents and the `handoffs` frontmatter property. [GitHub's custom agent configuration reference](https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/customizing-copilot/github-copilot-agents/configuration-reference-for-github-copilot-agents), however, notes that `handoffs` and `argument-hint` are currently ignored for Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com.

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A VS Code custom-agent frontmatter property (`handoffs`) that defines suggested transitions from one agent to another, often with a pre-filled follow-up prompt. Handoffs are useful for guided workflows such as research -> implementation or planning -> review.

**Important**: GitHub's custom agent configuration reference says `handoffs` are currently ignored for Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com, so this concept is not portable across every Copilot surface.
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This note cites “GitHub's custom agent configuration reference” but doesn’t provide a link. Consider linking to the specific reference page so readers can validate the portability warning about handoffs.

Suggested change
**Important**: GitHub's custom agent configuration reference says `handoffs` are currently ignored for Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com, so this concept is not portable across every Copilot surface.
**Important**: GitHub's [custom agent configuration reference](../building-custom-agents/#agent-configuration-reference) says `handoffs` are currently ignored for Copilot cloud agent on GitHub.com, so this concept is not portable across every Copilot surface.

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