copilot.lua — GitHub Copilot for NeoVim

Problem

GitHub Copilot’s official integration only supported VS Code. NeoVim users — a significant portion of the developer community — had no way to use Copilot in their editor of choice.

Approach

Reverse engineered the VS Code Copilot extension to understand the communication protocol between the editor and the Copilot language server. Built a native Lua plugin that speaks the same protocol, providing first-class Copilot support in NeoVim.

Technical Details

• Implemented the Copilot LSP client in pure Lua for minimal dependencies
• Handles authentication, session management, and suggestion rendering
• Supports inline ghost text suggestions matching VS Code behavior
• Manages the Copilot Node.js process lifecycle

Results

• 3,000+ GitHub stars and growing
• 4,000 git checkouts per day on average
• Active community with regular issue triage and PR reviews
• Became the de facto Copilot plugin for the NeoVim ecosystem