The DfE technical guidance and its content is intended for internal use by the DfE community.

GitHub user guidance

Use these guides when accessing DfE GitHub organisations, using DfE funded GitHub Copilot or contributing to DfE repositories. Choose the page for your task.

• Sign in to GitHub with single sign on Prepare your account, authenticate and troubleshoot access.
• Use GitHub Copilot safely Use the approved entitlement and handle data and usage responsibly.
• Getting started with GitHub Copilot Request access and start Copilot in your browser or IDE.
• Work safely in DfE repositories Maintain ownership, review changes and respond to security alerts.

Status and ownership

These guides are based on GitHub user and single sign on guidance version 0.3, dated 23 October 2026, and the companion Copilot getting started guide. The proposed content owner is Platform Engineering.

Before publication, confirm the account policy, training requirements, approved model list, access request and support routes, and repository ownership baseline. The existing source code standard currently permits personal GitHub accounts with DfE email configuration. The proposed work account requirements need reconciliation with that standard; these pages do not change the published account policy.

Repository protection and security scanning remain subject to the existing source code requirements. This guide does not replace administrator configuration and recovery runbooks.