# Setup guides

> These guides walk you through configuring the Copilot SDK for your specific use case—from personal side projects to production platforms serving thousands of users.

- 网址：https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/choosing-a-setup-path/
- 来源：GitHub Copilot 官方文档原文（英文），CC-BY-4.0 许可，同步于 2026-10-11
- 官方原文：https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/choosing-a-setup-path

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## Architecture at a glance

Every Copilot SDK integration follows the same core pattern: your application talks to the SDK, which communicates with the Copilot CLI over JSON-RPC. What changes across setups is **where the CLI runs**, **how users authenticate**, and **how sessions are managed**.

![Diagram: Flowchart showing the described process.](https://funcoding.ai/official-assets/github-copilot/assets/images/help/copilot/copilot-sdk/setup-choosing-a-setup-path-diagram-0.webp)

The setup guides below help you configure each layer for your scenario.

## Who are you?

### 🧑‍💻 Hobbyist

You're building a personal assistant, side project, or experimental app. You want the simplest path to getting Copilot in your code.

**Start with:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/bundled-cli/)**—The SDK includes the CLI automatically—just install and go
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/local-cli/)**—Use your own CLI binary or running instance (advanced)

### 🏢 Internal app developer

You're building tools for your team or company. Users are employees who need to authenticate with their enterprise GitHub accounts or org memberships.

**Start with:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/github-oauth/)**—Let employees sign in with their GitHub accounts
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/backend-services/)**—Run the SDK in your internal services

**If scaling beyond a single server:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/multi-tenancy/)**—Configure SDK options for multi-user server mode
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/scaling/)**—Handle multiple users and services

### 🚀 App developer (ISV)

You're building a product for customers. You need to handle authentication for your users—either through GitHub or by managing identity yourself.

**Start with:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/github-oauth/)**—Let customers sign in with GitHub
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/auth/byok/)**—Manage identity yourself with your own model keys
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/backend-services/)**—Power your product from server-side code

**For production:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/multi-tenancy/)**—Use `mode: "empty"`, per-session tokens, and isolated runtime state
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/scaling/)**—Serve many customers reliably

### 🏗️ Platform developer

You're embedding Copilot into a platform—APIs, developer tools, or infrastructure that other developers build on. You need fine-grained control over sessions, scaling, and multi-tenancy.

**Start with:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/backend-services/)**—Core server-side integration
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/multi-tenancy/)**—SDK-level isolation, per-session auth, and shared runtime options
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/scaling/)**—Session isolation, horizontal scaling, persistence

**Depending on your auth model:**
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/github-oauth/)**—For GitHub-authenticated users
1. **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/auth/byok/)**—For self-managed identity and model access

## Decision matrix

Use this table to find the right guides based on what you need to do:

| What you need | Guide |
|---------------|-------|
| Getting started quickly | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/bundled-cli/) |
| Use your own CLI binary or server | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/local-cli/) |
| Users sign in with GitHub | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/github-oauth/) |
| Use your own model keys (OpenAI, Azure, and more) | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/auth/byok/) |
| Azure BYOK with Managed Identity (no API keys) | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/azure-managed-identity/) |
| Run the SDK on a server | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/backend-services/) |
| Host the runtime inside your application process (no separate CLI process) | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/in-process-runtime/) *(experimental)* |
| Configure SDK options for concurrent users | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/multi-tenancy/) |
| Serve multiple users / scale horizontally | [AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/how-tos/copilot-sdk/setup/scaling/) |

## Configuration comparison

![Diagram: Flowchart showing the described process.](https://funcoding.ai/official-assets/github-copilot/assets/images/help/copilot/copilot-sdk/setup-choosing-a-setup-path-diagram-1.webp)

## Prerequisites

All guides assume you have:

* **One of the SDKs** installed (Node.js, Python, and .NET SDKs include the CLI automatically):
  * Node.js: `npm install @github/copilot-sdk`
  * Python: `pip install github-copilot-sdk`
  * Go: `go get github.com/github/copilot-sdk/go` (requires separate CLI installation)
  * .NET: `dotnet add package GitHub.Copilot.SDK`

If you're brand new, start with the **[AUTOTITLE](https://funcoding.ai/agents/github-copilot/get-started/sdk-quickstart/)** first, then come back here for production configuration.

## Next steps

Pick the guide that matches your situation from the [decision matrix](#decision-matrix) above, or start with the persona description closest to your role.