Training course · GitHub Copilot · DevOps & Cloud

GitHub Copilot for DevOps and Cloud Teams

Use GitHub Copilot professionally: completions, chat, agent mode, the coding agent for issues and PRs, code review and enterprise policies.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“GitHub Copilot for DevOps and Cloud Teams” is designed for roles such as DevOps engineers and platform teams, Cloud architects working with AWS, Azure or Google Cloud and Site reliability engineers responsible for operations and incidents and shows step by step how to use GitHub Copilot productively, safely and transparently in DevOps & Cloud – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

GitHub Copilot has grown from simple code completion into a broad AI platform that supports the entire development lifecycle. In the editor you work with inline suggestions, next edit suggestions and Copilot Chat; in agent mode Copilot handles tasks across multiple files and runs commands. On GitHub itself, the coding agent picks up assigned issues and delivers pull requests. In this two-day course you will learn how to use each of these building blocks deliberately and fit them cleanly into your existing development process.

Beyond hands-on editor work, the course covers control and quality. Custom instructions and prompt files give Copilot the project knowledge it needs, MCP adds further tools, and Copilot code review complements human reviewers. For those responsible for teams and organisations, we look at policies at organisation and enterprise level, content exclusions, model availability and usage reporting. Together, these lay the groundwork for a secure, transparent and genuinely effective Copilot rollout across the entire company.

DevOps and cloud teams own infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, cost control and security – often across several cloud providers and on-premises environments. Much of the work is configuration in HCL, YAML and shell, troubleshooting through logs and cross-checking documentation. AI coding assistants and agents speed up exactly that: they write reusable Terraform modules, fix failing pipelines, create Ansible roles, analyse incident logs and propose cost optimisations. At the same time the stakes are high, because a single wrong command can hit production. This course teaches you to use agents productively with clear permission boundaries, plan-and-review workflows and safeguarded environments.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • DevOps engineers and platform teams
  • Cloud architects working with AWS, Azure or Google Cloud
  • Site reliability engineers responsible for operations and incidents
  • System administrators moving towards infrastructure as code
  • Developers who maintain their own CI/CD pipelines

Typical challenges we address

  • Growing volumes of Terraform, YAML and pipeline configuration with drift and duplication
  • Time-consuming troubleshooting of failing pipelines and distributed logs
  • Rising cloud costs without clear visibility
  • High demands on security, compliance and traceability of changes

What you will be able to do

  • You use Copilot completions, chat and agent mode purposefully for your everyday development tasks.
  • You capture project knowledge in custom instructions and prompt files to improve output quality.
  • You delegate suitable issues to the coding agent and review its pull requests properly.
  • You integrate Copilot code review sensibly into your existing review process.
  • Use AI agents safely for infrastructure as code, pipelines and configuration management.
  • Analyse incidents, pipeline failures and cloud costs faster with AI support.
  • Define permission boundaries and approval processes so agents cannot make uncontrolled changes to production.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 Copilot in the editor: completions and chat
  • Accepting, rejecting and steering inline and next edit suggestions efficiently
  • Using Copilot Chat for explanations, debugging and test generation
  • Setting context precisely with files, selections, workspace and chat variables
  • Model selection and differences between VS Code, Visual Studio and JetBrains IDEs
Module 2 Agent mode and extensions
  • Planning multi-step tasks in agent mode and executing them under control
  • Feeding terminal commands, test runs and error output into the agent loop
  • Connecting MCP servers for additional tools and data sources
  • Reviewing changes, accepting them partially or rolling them back
Module 3 Project knowledge through custom instructions
  • Writing repository-wide instructions on architecture, style and testing
  • Creating path-specific instructions and reusable prompt files
  • Combining personal and organisation-wide guidance sensibly
  • Refining instructions continuously based on output quality
Module 4 Coding agent and code review on GitHub
  • Writing issues the coding agent can implement reliably
  • Reviewing, commenting on and iterating over the agent’s pull requests
  • Using Copilot code review as an additional check in the PR process
  • Configuring the agent’s development environment with setup steps and Actions

Day 2

Module 5 Administration, policies and security
  • Licence assignment and policies at organisation and enterprise level
  • Content exclusions, model availability and public code filters
  • Using audit logs and usage metrics to steer adoption
  • Clarifying security risks, secrets and accountability for AI-generated code
Module 6 Practice lab: DevOps & Cloud
  • Developing Terraform modules
  • Fixing CI/CD pipelines
  • Ansible and configuration management
  • Incident analysis
  • Optimising cloud costs
  • Policy as code and hardening
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Agents with access to cloud accounts and pipelines are a security matter: work with least privilege, separate environments and human approval, and keep cloud credentials, state files and secrets out of prompts. Operators of essential and important services must also meet NIS2 requirements on risk management, supply-chain security and traceability of changes.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Developing Terraform modules

The agent creates reusable Terraform or OpenTofu modules with variables, validations and outputs, runs fmt, validate and plan, and explains every planned change before a human approves the apply.

Fixing CI/CD pipelines

Failed GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or Azure DevOps runs are analysed from their logs, root causes such as caching issues or missing permissions identified and corrected pipeline definitions proposed.

Ansible and configuration management

The AI writes idempotent Ansible roles, templates and inventories, replaces fragile shell scripts and adds Molecule tests so configuration stays reproducible. Existing roles are gradually standardised along the way.

Incident analysis

Logs, metrics and alerts from monitoring are brought together, a timeline reconstructed, likely causes narrowed down and a draft postmortem with actions produced. The team keeps the final judgement.

Optimising cloud costs

The assistant reviews cost reports and resource definitions, finds oversized instances, orphaned volumes or missing lifecycle rules and drafts the matching IaC changes. Each recommendation includes estimated savings.

Policy as code and hardening

IaC code is scanned with tools such as Checkov or tfsec, findings are fixed and rules for encryption, tagging or network access are expressed as policy as code.

Possible hands-on projects

Drift detector

A script that regularly runs terraform plan across several environments, detects drift and posts a summary to a chat channel.

Pipeline template library

Reusable CI/CD templates for build, test, security scanning and deployment, documented and accompanied by sample projects. Teams adopt them with just a few lines of configuration.

Cost report tool

A CLI that pulls cost data from a cloud account, breaks it down by tags and teams and clearly highlights optimisation candidates.

Prerequisites

You develop software regularly, work with Git and GitHub issues and pull requests, and use a modern IDE. Practical experience with Linux, Git and at least one cloud platform, plus a working knowledge of Terraform, containers and CI/CD.

Technical requirements

Your own laptop with VS Code or a JetBrains IDE, the Copilot extension installed and a GitHub account with an active Copilot licence; the coding agent requires a suitable plan.

Data protection & compliance

Agents with access to cloud accounts and pipelines are a security matter: work with least privilege, separate environments and human approval, and keep cloud credentials, state files and secrets out of prompts. Operators of essential and important services must also meet NIS2 requirements on risk management, supply-chain security and traceability of changes.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Mon, 23 November 2026 – Tue, 24 November 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 3 December 2026 – Fri, 4 December 2026 Augsburg Request
  • Thu, 17 December 2026 – Fri, 18 December 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 21 January 2027 – Fri, 22 January 2027 Kaiserslautern Request
  • Mon, 1 February 2027 – Tue, 2 February 2027 Online Request
  • Mon, 8 February 2027 – Tue, 9 February 2027 Bremen Request

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between agent mode and the coding agent?

Agent mode runs inside your IDE: you work interactively with Copilot, see every step and approve commands. The coding agent, by contrast, works autonomously on GitHub once you assign it an issue, uses its own execution environment and opens a pull request that you then review just as you would a contribution from a colleague.

How can we make sure Copilot complies with our company policies?

At organisation and enterprise level you can enable or block specific features, models and extensions. Content exclusions keep sensitive files out of the context, and audit logs make usage traceable. During the course we show how to align these controls with data protection, information security requirements and your internal coding standards.

Is the course worthwhile if we already use Copilot?

Yes, especially then. Many teams rely on completions alone and barely touch chat, agent mode, custom instructions or the coding agent. The course shows how to use these features in a structured way, improve results with project knowledge and avoid common pitfalls. Experienced users benefit most from the sections on review and governance.

Should an AI agent be allowed to apply infrastructure changes itself?

That is something to limit deliberately. A proven workflow has the agent write code and run plan, a human review the result and the apply run through the regular pipeline. On the course you learn to design permissions, sandbox environments and approvals so that production systems stay protected.

Which cloud platform does the course use?

The methods are vendor-neutral and transfer to AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. Exercises use examples you can reproduce with local tooling or test accounts. You are welcome to bring scenarios from your own platform, provided no production credentials are used.

How much does “GitHub Copilot for DevOps and Cloud Teams” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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