Jon Peck

Real world MCPs in GitHub Copilot Agent Mode — Jon Peck, Microsoft

Jul 19, 2025 · 14:27

Jon Peck from Microsoft demonstrates how Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers enable GitHub Copilot Agent Mode to solve real-world engineering problems beyond vibe-coding. He shows a README-driven workflow where Agent Mode builds a full app from a specification, then adds MCPs for database access and GitHub operations. Specifically, he configures a PostgreSQL MCP to pull live schema and data into mock JSON for testing, and the GitHub MCP to commit changes and create pull requests automatically. He emphasizes the read-only safety of the Postgres MCP and recommends using Copilot instructions to enforce practices like change logs. The episode covers how MCPs extend Copilot's capabilities to interact with data sources, testing tools, and DevOps pipelines securely.

Unlocking AI Powered DevOps Within Your Organization — Jon Peck, GitHub

Jun 27, 2025 · 22:13

Jon Peck, a developer advocate at GitHub, explains how organizations can unlock AI-powered DevOps by integrating tools like GitHub Copilot into their workflows, achieving up to 1.5x feature throughput and 30% average improvement in successful builds. He emphasizes starting with brownfield (existing code) rather than greenfield, using agent mode for iterative planning and narrowed context, and codifying team best practices via copilot-instructions.md files. Peck also covers governance: safety, privacy, org-wide policies, and excluding sensitive files. Autonomous AI use cases include auto-generating PR descriptions, code review, and assigning issues to Copilot, always keeping a human in the loop with isolated branches. Finally, MCP servers allow agents to interact with GitHub and other systems, automating commits and PR creation.

The Agent Awakens: Collaborative Development with Copilot - Christopher Harrison, GitHub

Jun 27, 2025 · 1:04:06

GitHub Enterprise Advocates Christopher Harrison and John Peck demonstrate GitHub Copilot's Coding Agent at the AI Engineer World's Fair, arguing that context is the key to effective AI pair programming. They explain that coding agent works by assigning GitHub issues with detailed requirements, then running inside a secure, ephemeral GitHub Actions environment with no internet access and limited write permissions. Harrison emphasizes using `copilot-instructions.md` and `.instructions` files to guide code generation, and MCP servers to access external data or APIs. He stresses that AI does not change the DevOps flow—code still requires manual review, linters, security scans, and unit tests. The session covers agent mode, edit mode, and multi-file edits, along with practical Q&A on enterprise adoption, model transparency, and managing multiple coding agents.

Collaborating with Agents in your Software Dev Workflow - Jon Peck & Christopher Harrison, Microsoft

Jun 27, 2025 · 1:04:06

GitHub's Christopher Harrison and Jon Peck explain how to collaborate with Copilot Coding Agent as a peer programmer, emphasizing that context—through clear code, comments, instructions files, and MCP servers—is key to success. They walk through a lab where Copilot works on assigned issues in ephemeral GitHub Actions environments without internet or write access to the main repo, creating draft PRs that require human review. Harrison advises against being passive-aggressive, advocating specific prompts and instructions files to guide the agent. The episode covers MCP's role in providing external tools, the need for code review and security checks even with AI, and pricing: $39.99/month for Enterprise tier with coding agent. They also highlight .instructions files for reusable patterns and note that coding agent currently supports only tools, not resources.