**Burke Holland** demonstrates how to build a personal AI assistant called "Max" using the [[GitHub Copilot CLI SDK]], accessible from anywhere via Telegram. The video walks through the entire process — from researching the SDK with the Copilot CLI's `/research` command, through planning and building, to a working Telegram bot that can check email, analyze Reddit AMAs, search X/Twitter, and generate YouTube thumbnails. ## Links - [YouTube Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEtM45hG-5A) - [GitHub Copilot SDK](https://github.com/github/copilot-sdk) - [Max (Burke's Personal Assistant)](https://github.com/burkeholland) *(referenced in video)* ## Key Takeaways - **The Copilot SDK wraps the Copilot CLI** — your agent inherits all CLI capabilities (GitHub MCP, file editing, tool calling) for free, out of the box - **Personal AI assistants are not overhyped** — they enable asynchronous workflows, letting you delegate tasks and get notified when complete - **You don't need powerful hardware** — Burke runs his assistant on a small Beink mini PC with Ubuntu - **You may not need to know the programming language** — the AI can write the code; understanding how to put pieces together matters more ## Workflow Demonstrated ### Step 1 — Research the SDK Use the Copilot CLI's `/research` command to have the AI learn everything about the `github/copilot-sdk` repository before writing any code: ``` /research github/copilot-sdk ``` This generates a comprehensive report that fills the context window with SDK knowledge. ### Step 2 — Compact the Context After research, use `/compact` to summarize the session and start fresh with a clean context window while retaining the knowledge. Burke describes this as "moving to a clean room and only taking what you need." ### Step 3 — Plan Mode Switch to plan mode (`Shift+Tab`) and provide a deliberately vague prompt: > "I want to build a personal assistant on the Copilot SDK that I can communicate with over Telegram." Let plan mode ask clarifying questions to build a detailed plan: - **Language**: TypeScript/Node.js (recommended, though Go SDK also available) - **Authentication**: User logs in to Copilot CLI - **Scope**: Full-feature — tools, MCP servers, hooks, sub-agents - **Session management**: One persistent session per Telegram user - **Telegram library**: grammY (TypeScript-first, modern, well-maintained) ### Step 4 — Build with Autopilot + Fleet Accept the plan and let the CLI build on autopilot with fleet mode, which deploys sub-agents to handle different parts of the implementation. ### Step 5 — Configure and Run 1. Set up a Telegram bot via BotFather 2. Copy the bot token to `.env` 3. Run `npm run dev` ## Custom Agent — Anvil Burke uses a custom agent called **Anvil** that enhances the Copilot CLI with: - **Context7 MCP server** for documentation search - **Web fetching** capabilities - **Multi-model code writing** — uses Opus, Gemini 3 Pro, and GPT-5.3 in combination - **Guiding principles** for better agent behavior ## Practical Use Cases Shown | Task | What the Bot Does | |------|-------------------| | **Email triage** | Checks Gmail, identifies important unread emails from the last 48 hours | | **Blog draft retrieval** | Finds and links to in-progress blog posts on GitHub | | **Reddit AMA analysis** | Reads r/githubcopilot AMA, identifies themes, compiles report into a Google Doc | | **X/Twitter monitoring** | Searches for trending AI topics under an account | | **Thumbnail generation** | Creates YouTube thumbnail images on demand | ## Background Workers The assistant uses **background workers** for long-running tasks. Multiple tasks run concurrently — you can check status with the `/workers` command and continue chatting while tasks complete. Notifications arrive when work is done. ## Why Build Your Own - Use it from **anywhere** — phone, desktop, any Telegram client - **Asynchronous delegation** — assign tasks and come back later - **Extensible via skills** — add any capability through custom skills - **You're talking to Copilot** — the full power of the Copilot CLI is behind the bot