Training course · GitHub Copilot · Python Development

GitHub Copilot for Python Developers

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 Python Developers” is designed for roles such as Python back-end developers working with Django, Flask or FastAPI, Automation and scripting specialists in IT and business units and Data and ML engineers maintaining production Python code and shows step by step how to use GitHub Copilot productively, safely and transparently in Python Development – 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.

Python powers web back ends, automation, data pipelines and AI applications – often inside the same organisation, which makes codebases notoriously diverse. AI coding assistants and agents have a particularly visible impact here: they write pytest suites around your existing fixtures, add type hints until mypy passes cleanly, migrate legacy scripts to modern packaging with pyproject.toml and walk you through an unfamiliar Django or FastAPI project in minutes rather than days. The key is steering these tools with the right context: project conventions, Ruff rules, test commands and architectural decisions belong in instruction files and prompts. Once you master that, you can delegate routine work with confidence and focus on design, review and business logic.

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?

  • Python back-end developers working with Django, Flask or FastAPI
  • Automation and scripting specialists in IT and business units
  • Data and ML engineers maintaining production Python code
  • Tech leads responsible for code quality and review processes
  • Developers modernising legacy Python codebases

Typical challenges we address

  • Ageing codebases with no type hints and patchy test coverage
  • Dependency sprawl across requirements.txt, Poetry, uv and virtual environments
  • Time-consuming reviews and inconsistent style despite linters and formatters
  • Onboarding into unfamiliar projects that rely on undocumented tribal knowledge

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.
  • Have AI agents reliably deliver pytest suites, type hints and refactorings across your Python codebase.
  • Encode project conventions, tooling such as Ruff, mypy and uv, and test commands so the assistant follows them consistently.
  • Review generated Python code systematically for correctness, security and maintainability before it is merged.

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: Python Development
  • Generating pytest tests
  • Type hints and mypy clean-up
  • Django migrations and ORM refactoring
  • FastAPI endpoints with Pydantic
  • Modernising legacy scripts
  • Understanding and documenting a codebase
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Define which source code may be sent to cloud-hosted models, keep secrets from .env files strictly out of context, and check generated code for licence carry-over and newly introduced PyPI dependencies (typosquatting, supply-chain risk). For products with digital elements, obligations under the Cyber Resilience Act are becoming increasingly relevant.
  • 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

Generating pytest tests

The assistant inspects functions and existing fixtures, writes parametrised pytest tests covering edge cases and mocks for external services, then runs them iteratively until they pass and reach the coverage you are aiming for.

Type hints and mypy clean-up

Untyped code is annotated module by module with type hints, TypedDicts and Protocols. The agent runs mypy or Pyright, interprets the output and fixes issues step by step without changing runtime behaviour.

Django migrations and ORM refactoring

Model changes are planned together with data migrations, makemigrations conflicts are resolved and N+1 queries are fixed with select_related or prefetch_related. The AI flags risks to existing production data before you deploy.

FastAPI endpoints with Pydantic

From a functional description or an OpenAPI draft, the assistant produces Pydantic models, routers, dependency injection and validation logic, complete with error handling and matching tests using the TestClient.

Modernising legacy scripts

Old scripts become proper packages with pyproject.toml, global state is removed, argparse or Click interfaces are added and Ruff rules applied. The agent documents every change clearly in the commit history.

Understanding and documenting a codebase

The assistant explores an unfamiliar repository, produces architecture overviews, explains data flows between modules and fills in missing docstrings in Google or NumPy style so new team members become productive faster.

Possible hands-on projects

Log analysis CLI

A Typer-based command-line tool that reads application logs, clusters error patterns and outputs a concise summary as Markdown or JSON – shipped with tests and proper packaging.

FastAPI microservice with a database

A small REST service with SQLAlchemy, Alembic migrations, Pydantic validation and a Docker setup, planned, implemented and tested end to end by an AI agent.

Dependency audit script

A script that lists all project dependencies, checks for outdated or vulnerable packages against public advisory databases and produces a prioritised upgrade report.

Prerequisites

You develop software regularly, work with Git and GitHub issues and pull requests, and use a modern IDE. Solid Python skills plus hands-on experience with Git, virtual environments and at least one framework such as Django, Flask or FastAPI.

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

Define which source code may be sent to cloud-hosted models, keep secrets from .env files strictly out of context, and check generated code for licence carry-over and newly introduced PyPI dependencies (typosquatting, supply-chain risk). For products with digital elements, obligations under the Cyber Resilience Act are becoming increasingly relevant.

Suggested dates

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

  • Thu, 26 November 2026 – Fri, 27 November 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 10 December 2026 – Fri, 11 December 2026 Stuttgart Request
  • Tue, 12 January 2027 – Wed, 13 January 2027 Online Request
  • Thu, 28 January 2027 – Fri, 29 January 2027 Berlin Request
  • Thu, 4 February 2027 – Fri, 5 February 2027 Online Request
  • Thu, 18 February 2027 – Fri, 19 February 2027 Munich 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.

Does AI-assisted coding work in large Django monoliths?

Yes, provided the agent gets the right context. On the course you learn to create instruction files describing architecture rules, app structure and test commands, and to scope tasks so the assistant works on individual apps or modules. Changes stay manageable and reviewable even when the overall project is very large.

Will AI replace my code reviews?

No. AI assistants speed up writing code and can prepare reviews by pointing out missing tests or risky sections, but functional and security accountability stays with your team. We show how to combine review checklists, static analysis and tests so that generated code meets exactly the same quality bar as hand-written code.

How much does “GitHub Copilot for Python Developers” 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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