Unable to pass environment variables to GitHub Copilot Coding Agent

[reubinoff-prime]

Select Topic Area

Bug

Copilot Feature Area

Copilot Coding Agent

Body

Problem Description

I'm implementing a new workflow to assign GitHub issues to the GitHub Copilot Coding Agent. The agent needs access to environment variables for running unit tests that depend on external services like Redis.
Current Setup

Following the official documentation: Customizing the development environment for Copilot Coding Agent
Using GitHub Actions services feature to set up Redis with username and password
Unit tests require Redis connection parameters to run successfully

Issue

Environment variables are not being passed to the Copilot Coding Agent, preventing it from running unit tests that require service credentials.
Attempted Solutions

Dynamic Environment Variables: Tried pushing Redis credentials as environment parameters to the agent during workflow execution - no values were passed through
Static Configuration: Attempted to configure Redis credentials as static values through the UI as described in the documentation - this approach also failed

Expected Behavior
The Copilot Coding Agent should have access to the configured environment variables (Redis username, password, host, etc.) to successfully run unit tests in the prepared testing environment.
Questions

How should environment variables be properly configured for the Copilot Coding Agent?
Are there specific requirements or limitations for passing service credentials?
Is there a recommended approach for handling external service dependencies in the agent environment?

Environment Details

Using GitHub Actions services for Redis setup
Following official documentation for agent environment customization
Need to pass database connection parameters for unit test execution

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[ndench]

I've had the same issue. After extensive debugging, I've found that you have to set the env vars in multiple places.

For the env vars to be available when the agent is setting up (ie. running the steps defined in copilot-setup-steps.yml), you need to set them on the individual step level (as mentioned here). The env: section is completed ignored at the global level and the job: level. This is very misleading as you setup the copilot-setup-steps.yml to run as a github action when it's modified and it works fine with env vars specified in these ways.

Additionally, you need to specify env vars against the copilot environment on the repository as documented here for them to be available when the agent is running (ie. after the setup steps have completed). This is also misleading as these variables don't seem to be available when the setup steps are running.

[carlos-quintero]

See my approach here: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/160030#discussioncomment-14609007

To avoid duplication of code and configuration (because copilot environment vars don't scale if you have dozens of repos), you can create an action of type "composite" in a repo of the organization and call it from your copilot-setup-steps.yml workflow, and from your CI/CD workflows.

[ytthuan]

a simple way it works for me: COPILOT_AGENT_<Key_label> for e.g if I want to add secret like azure openai key I use COPILOT_AGENT_AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY and copilot coding agent able to get and use that secret. the secret should be set in copilot environment. This is sure to work.