> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vorto-editor.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# GitHub Copilot in Vorto: inline ghost-text completions

> Set up GitHub Copilot in Vorto — install copilot-language-server, sign in with the device flow, and accept multi-line inline ghost-text suggestions with Ctrl-l.

Vorto ships with a built-in GitHub Copilot client. When it is available, Copilot offers **inline ghost text** — greyed-out suggestions that appear ahead of your cursor in Insert mode and that you accept with a single keystroke. It is wired into the same input loop as everything else, so reaching for a suggestion is just another motion rather than a context switch.

Copilot is entirely optional. Vorto talks to it through the official `copilot-language-server` binary, which is **not bundled and never installed automatically** — by design, the editor stays out of your package-manager loop. If the binary isn't present, Vorto degrades silently: no errors, no prompts, and every other feature keeps working. You just don't see ghost text.

## Prerequisites

<Steps>
  <Step title="A GitHub account with Copilot access">
    Inline completions are served by GitHub Copilot, so you need an account with an active Copilot entitlement. Vorto does not provide a plan of its own — it relies on your existing GitHub Copilot access.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The copilot-language-server binary on your PATH">
    Vorto looks for an executable named `copilot-language-server` on your `PATH`. It is the official GitHub-published language server, distributed as an npm package. Any install method works as long as the binary ends up on your `PATH`, for example:

    ```bash theme={null}
    npm install -g @github/copilot-language-server
    ```

    Verify it resolves:

    ```bash theme={null}
    copilot-language-server --version
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Vorto runs a single workspace-wide Copilot instance and connects to it over standard LSP (stdio). There is no per-language setup — once the binary is on your `PATH` and you're signed in, it applies across every buffer.
</Note>

## Sign in

Copilot uses GitHub's device-flow sign-in. Start it from the command prompt:

```
:copilot signin
```

(`:copilot login` is an alias.) Vorto then:

1. Copies a one-time **user code** to your clipboard.
2. Opens the verification URL (`https://github.com/login/device`) in your OS browser.
3. Shows a centered modal with the user code and URL so you can confirm the device even if the browser didn't open.

Paste the code into the GitHub page and authorize. Vorto holds the confirmation in the background, so the editor stays fully interactive while you finish in the browser — the status updates on its own once GitHub approves the device.

<Tip>
  If you dismiss the modal or your clipboard gets overwritten before you finish, run `:copilot code` to re-show the modal and re-copy the user code for the in-flight sign-in.
</Tip>

### Managing your session

| Command            | Action                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `:copilot status`  | Show the current auth state (signed in as *user*, not signed in, not authorized, or not running). Bare `:copilot` defaults to this. |
| `:copilot signin`  | Start the device-flow sign-in. Alias: `:copilot login`.                                                                             |
| `:copilot signout` | Sign out of Copilot. Alias: `:copilot logout`.                                                                                      |
| `:copilot code`    | Re-show the sign-in modal and re-copy the user code for an in-flight sign-in.                                                       |

You can also confirm Copilot's state at a glance in the `:lsp` status modal, where it is listed alongside your language servers.

## Use ghost text

Once you're signed in, suggestions appear automatically as you edit in Insert mode. There is nothing to trigger by hand — Vorto requests a completion on a short **75 ms debounce** and surfaces the result wherever your cursor comes to rest: after a motion, `Backspace`, `Enter`, a paste, or simply entering Insert mode. Ghost text and the LSP completion popup coexist; the suggestion paints underneath the popup rather than fighting it.

### Accept a suggestion

| Key      | Action                                               |
| -------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| `Ctrl-l` | Accept the showing suggestion and insert it verbatim |
| `Ctrl-y` | Same as `Ctrl-l` (kept for muscle-memory parity)     |

Accepting inserts the suggestion exactly as Copilot returned it, including any indentation on continuation lines.

### Multi-line suggestions

Suggestions can span multiple lines; Vorto renders each continuation line beneath the cursor, indented as Copilot returned it. Server-side multi-line generation is currently scoped to **JavaScript / JSX, Python, and empty-block starts** — elsewhere you'll typically get a single-line completion.

### Dismiss a suggestion

There is no dedicated reject key. A suggestion is only valid while your cursor sits exactly where it was requested, so **moving the cursor, editing the buffer, or leaving Insert mode clears the ghost text**. If a suggestion isn't what you want, just keep typing — it disappears on its own and a fresh request fires when you pause.

## Enable and disable

Copilot has no on/off switch in `config.toml`. Whether it's active comes down to two things:

* **Is `copilot-language-server` on your `PATH`?** If not, the client never starts and you get no ghost text — with no error.
* **Are you signed in?** Run `:copilot status` to check, and `:copilot signin` / `:copilot signout` to change it.

To turn Copilot off for a session, sign out; to disable it entirely, remove the binary from your `PATH`.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="LSP" icon="plug" href="/lsp/overview">
    How Vorto's language-server client works — diagnostics, completions, and goto definition that complement Copilot's suggestions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Editing modes" icon="keyboard" href="/editing/modes">
    The modal grammar that ghost text plugs into — accept a suggestion, then reshape it with motions and operators.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>