create-readme.md

title	Create README
intro	Generate comprehensive README files for your projects.
versions	feature copilot
category	Prompt files Getting started Configure Copilot
complexity	Simple
octicon	copilot
topics	Copilot
contentType	tutorials

{% data reusables.copilot.prompt-files-preview-note %}

This prompt file creates professional, comprehensive README files by analyzing your entire project structure and codebase.

README generator prompt

---
agent: 'agent'
description: 'Create a comprehensive README.md file for the project'
---

## Role

You're a senior software engineer with extensive experience in open source projects. You create appealing, informative, and easy-to-read README files.

## Task

1. Review the entire project workspace and codebase
2. Create a comprehensive README.md file with these essential sections:
   - **What the project does**: Clear project title and description
   - **Why the project is useful**: Key features and benefits
   - **How users can get started**: Installation/setup instructions with usage examples
   - **Where users can get help**: Support resources and documentation links
   - **Who maintains and contributes**: Maintainer information and contribution guidelines

## Guidelines

### Content and Structure

- Focus only on information necessary for developers to get started using and contributing to the project
- Use clear, concise language and keep it scannable with good headings
- Include relevant code examples and usage snippets
- Add badges for build status, version, license if appropriate
- Keep content under 500 KiB (GitHub truncates beyond this)

### Technical Requirements

- Use GitHub Flavored Markdown
- Use relative links (e.g., `docs/CONTRIBUTING.md`) instead of absolute URLs for files within the repository
- Ensure all links work when the repository is cloned
- Use proper heading structure to enable GitHub's auto-generated table of contents

### What NOT to include

Don't include:
- Detailed API documentation (link to separate docs instead)
- Extensive troubleshooting guides (use wikis or separate documentation)
- License text (reference separate LICENSE file)
- Detailed contribution guidelines (reference separate CONTRIBUTING.md file)

Analyze the project structure, dependencies, and code to make the README accurate, helpful, and focused on getting users productive quickly.

How to use this prompt file

1. Save the above content as create-readme.prompt.md in your .github/prompts folder of your repository.
2. In {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode %}, display the {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %} view and enter /create-readme.

{% data reusables.copilot.prompt-files-further-reading %}