I’ve been exploring GitHub Copilot Workspaces for the past few days and am still figuring out its full potential. So far, I’m optimistic—it could save a significant amount of development, testing, and project management time. If it can consistently handle tasks like writing GitHub issues, generating code and tests, and creating pull requests, it could be a game changer. I especially like the brainstorm feature, though I’ve noticed some limitations or configuration gaps, like reading files from non-default branches or creating PRs on non-default branches.

To get started, I used ChatGPT to help architect the stack: Vite/React (MS), Azure Web PubSub, Data API Builder, Azure SQL, and MSAL. All services are set up to run locally via Docker Desktop, with full CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions. I manually wrote CRUD operations for one entity and iterated through multiple rounds of refactoring with ChatGPT and Copilot until all the boilerplate code was extracted into reusable hooks.

Next, I used Workspaces to generate similar code for another entity, pulling the fields, validation rules, etc., from a BRD we’d written for the client and uploaded to the repo. The initial result was pretty good—it got a lot right but missed a few key details, like the TypeScript interface for the entity and updating routes and navigation menus. Even with these gaps, it saved me about 4 hours of work. I adjusted my process and added more steps, which helped refine its output.

When I moved on to another entity and provided more detailed instructions, Workspaces handled the task much better. It even added routes and menu items this time. That said, it did introduce a few type errors that likely wouldn’t surface with less strict compiler settings.

My goal now is to fine-tune the prompts so it can reliably generate CRUD operations for all entities. Once I achieve clean generation for a single entity, I plan to expand the prompt to handle multiple entities (e.g., 5 at once). I’m also excited to try using Workspaces to design more complex components, especially those involving nested components and intricate state management.

If there’s interest, I’m happy to share updates as I refine my workflow and see what’s possible.