AI-242: Using Github Copilot and spec-kit for Agentic Coding and Spec-driven and Test-driven Development (SDD and TDD)

Course Length

2 days or 4 half days

Course Overview

AI-powered coding tools such as GitHub Copilot are rapidly transforming how software is designed, implemented, and maintained. This course teaches participants how to move beyond simple prompt-based coding and adopt a systematic, agentic approach that improves productivity without sacrificing quality, governance, or maintainability.

Participants will learn how to use Copilot's advanced chat and agent modes without or with spec-kit to implement “vibe coding” and Spec-Driven and Test-Driven Development (SDD and TDD) respectively. SDD's structured methodology spans the whole software development life cycle (SDLC) and ensures that software development remains aligned with business intent, technical constraints, and long-term sustainability. Additionally, TDD makes sure that the generated code will be of high quality. The course combines conceptual foundations with extensive hands-on exercises, enabling participants to immediately apply these techniques to real-world projects.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• • Understand the differences between the various modes in Copilot Chat
• • Understand the concepts of MCP servers and tools, and configure and use them in Copilot
• • Create new applications and modify existing ones consisting of multiple files
• • Use Copilot to create and run unit and integration tests
• • Generate documentation for applications based on source code and user prompts
• • Use Copilot for source control tasks
• • Understand the limitations of “vibe-coding” and the need for a more structured methodology which spans the whole software development life cycle (SDLC)
• • Understand the main principles, advantages and disadvantages of Spec-driven and Test-driven Development (SDD and TDD)
• • Explain the meaning and importance of SDD and TDD steps
• • Use SDD and TDD in greenfield projects
• • Use SDD and TDD in brownfield projects

Main Topics

Structure

Roughly 50% lecture, 50% hands on lab exercises. The lab exercises are executables with Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, C# or C/C++.

Target Audience

Software developers and testers as well as their technical managers who want to understand and use GitHub Copilot and spec-kit in agentic coding and spec-driven software development.

Prerequisites

Experience with VSCode or similar IDEs, experience in using ChatGPT or similar chatbots, basic knowledge of the programming language used during lab exercises.

Course Modules