An Office Add-in that brings GitHub Copilot directly into Word, Excel and PowerPoint — enhanced with Atea brand design skills and Microsoft Work IQ (calendar, email, Teams, people search via MCP).

git clone https://github.com/atea/github-copilot-office.git
cd github-copilot-office
npm install

macOS / Linux:

./register.sh

Windows (PowerShell):

.\register.ps1

This tells Office where to find the add-in and trusts the local SSL certificate.

npm run start:tray

The server starts on https://localhost:52390. Keep this terminal open.

1. Open PowerPoint, Word or Excel (desktop or web)
2. Go to Insert → Add-ins → My Add-ins
3. Under Shared Folder (desktop) or My Organization (web), select GitHub Copilot
4. The Copilot chat panel appears on the right side

The first time you open the add-in you'll be prompted to sign in with your GitHub account. This authenticates you against your Copilot license.

📖 For more detailed setup instructions, see GETTING_STARTED.md.

🔧 For the full list of Office tools, see TOOLS_CATALOG.md.

You can run the backend server in Docker for easier deployment and isolation. This uses a hybrid architecture where the main server runs in Docker, but Work IQ (M365 integration) runs on the host to access macOS Keychain for authentication.

• Docker and Docker Compose
• GitHub CLI (gh) authenticated with gh auth login
• Work IQ for M365 features (optional)

Terminal 1 — Start the Work IQ host relay (for M365 features):

node scripts/workiq-host-relay.js

Terminal 2 — Start the Docker container:

GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) docker compose up --build

The add-in is now available at https://localhost:52390.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Office Add-in (Browser)                                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Docker Container (port 52390)                                  │
│  ┌───────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐  │
│  │ Express Server│  │ GitHub Copilot  │  │ Work IQ Bridge   │  │
│  │ + React UI    │  │ CLI (native bin)│  │ (MCP → HTTP)     │  │
│  └───────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └──────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼ HTTP (host.docker.internal:52391)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Host Machine                                                   │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │ Work IQ Host Relay (port 52391)                           │  │
│  │ - Runs @microsoft/workiq natively                         │  │
│  │ - Has access to macOS Keychain (M365 auth)                │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• GitHub Copilot CLI runs fine in Docker with a GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
• Work IQ requires interactive Microsoft authentication stored in macOS Keychain, which isn't accessible from Docker
• The host relay bridges this gap — it runs Work IQ natively on the host where Keychain is available

If you don't need M365 integration (calendar, email, Teams, people search), you can skip the host relay:

GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) docker compose up --build

Office tools (creating slides, reading documents, editing spreadsheets) will work normally.

The docker-compose.yml includes:

• Port 52390 for the main server
• Volume mounts for SSL certs and design skills
• GITHUB_TOKEN passed from the host
• WORKIQ_RELAY_URL pointing to the host relay

"Session was not created with authentication info":

• Make sure you're passing GITHUB_TOKEN: GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) docker compose up
• Verify your GitHub CLI is authenticated: gh auth status

Work IQ queries timeout or fail:

• Check the host relay is running: curl http://localhost:52391/health
• View relay logs: tail -f /tmp/workiq-relay.log
• First M365 query may prompt for sign-in in the host terminal

Container can't reach host relay:

• Docker Compose adds host.docker.internal automatically
• Check WORKIQ_RELAY_URL in container: docker compose exec copilot-office env | grep WORKIQ

The add-in includes the Atea Corporate design skill, which teaches Copilot the full Atea brand guidelines — colors, typography, layout rules, and do's & don'ts. Every slide it generates follows the Atea visual identity automatically.

• Be specific about content — give Copilot the actual text/data, not just the topic
• Mention the number of slides — "Create 5 slides about…" works better than "Create a presentation about…"
• Ask for specific layouts — "Use a two-column layout" or "Add a full-width image slide"
• Iterate — after generating, say "Make the title shorter" or "Change the subtitle to…"
• Reference the brand — "Use Atea branding" or "Follow our brand guidelines" reinforces the design skill

Work IQ connects Copilot to your Microsoft 365 data via MCP — emails, calendar, Teams messages, documents and people.

When you first ask a Work IQ question, you'll be prompted to sign in with your Microsoft account. This is a one-time consent per session.

1. On-brand by default — every slide follows Atea's design system without manual fixing
2. Model choice — switch between GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, and other models
3. Composable — combine Office tools + M365 data + custom skills in a single prompt
4. Extensible — add new MCP servers (e.g. Jira, ServiceNow) or custom tools
5. Cost-effective — no additional M365 Copilot license needed if you already have GitHub Copilot

Skills are loaded from the skills/ directory. Each skill contains a SKILL.md file with design guidelines that Copilot follows when creating presentations.

Add-in doesn't appear in Office:

• Make sure you ran ./register.sh (or .\register.ps1)
• Restart Office after registering
• Check that the dev server is running (npm run dev)

Stuck on "Connecting…":

• Make sure npm run start:tray is running and showing Server running on https://localhost:52390
• Try refreshing the add-in panel (close and reopen)

Work IQ not responding:

• Ensure you have internet access and npx is available in your PATH
• Run workiq accept-eula once to accept End User License Agreement from Microsoft
• Sign in when prompted — Work IQ requires Microsoft account consent

SSL Certificate errors:

• Re-run the register script (./register.sh)
• Or manually trust certs/localhost.pem