{"id":51951732,"url":"https://github.com/dubsopenhub/copilot-sidecar","last_synced_at":"2026-07-29T06:01:29.453Z","repository":{"id":346210095,"uuid":"1188941203","full_name":"DUBSOpenHub/copilot-sidecar","owner":"DUBSOpenHub","description":"🔭 A terminal translator for non-technical people. Watches what developers do and explains it in plain English.","archived":false,"fork":false,"pushed_at":"2026-03-22T19:41:02.000Z","size":175,"stargazers_count":0,"open_issues_count":0,"forks_count":0,"subscribers_count":0,"default_branch":"main","last_synced_at":"2026-07-07T22:21:29.219Z","etag":null,"topics":[],"latest_commit_sha":null,"homepage":null,"language":"Python","has_issues":true,"has_wiki":null,"has_pages":null,"mirror_url":null,"source_name":null,"license":"mit","status":null,"scm":"git","pull_requests_enabled":true,"icon_url":"https://github.com/DUBSOpenHub.png","metadata":{"files":{"readme":"README.md","changelog":"CHANGELOG.md","contributing":"CONTRIBUTING.md","funding":null,"license":"LICENSE","code_of_conduct":"CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md","threat_model":null,"audit":null,"citation":null,"codeowners":".github/CODEOWNERS","security":"SECURITY.md","support":null,"governance":null,"roadmap":null,"authors":null,"dei":null,"publiccode":null,"codemeta":null,"zenodo":null,"notice":null,"maintainers":null,"copyright":null,"agents":"AGENTS.md","dco":null,"cla":null}},"created_at":"2026-03-22T19:37:07.000Z","updated_at":"2026-03-22T19:41:05.000Z","dependencies_parsed_at":null,"dependency_job_id":null,"html_url":"https://github.com/DUBSOpenHub/copilot-sidecar","commit_stats":null,"previous_names":["dubsopenhub/copilot-sidecar"],"tags_count":0,"template":false,"template_full_name":null,"purl":"pkg:github/DUBSOpenHub/copilot-sidecar","repository_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/DUBSOpenHub%2Fcopilot-sidecar","tags_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/DUBSOpenHub%2Fcopilot-sidecar/tags","releases_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/DUBSOpenHub%2Fcopilot-sidecar/releases","manifests_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/DUBSOpenHub%2Fcopilot-sidecar/manifests","owner_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners/DUBSOpenHub","download_url":"https://codeload.github.com/DUBSOpenHub/copilot-sidecar/tar.gz/refs/heads/main","sbom_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/DUBSOpenHub%2Fcopilot-sidecar/sbom","scorecard":null,"host":{"name":"GitHub","url":"https://github.com","kind":"github","repositories_count":286080680,"owners_count":36020486,"icon_url":"https://github.com/github.png","version":null,"created_at":"2022-05-30T11:31:42.601Z","updated_at":"2026-07-20T02:08:10.276Z","status":"online","status_checked_at":"2026-07-29T02:00:04.910Z","response_time":95,"last_error":null,"robots_txt_status":"success","robots_txt_updated_at":"2025-07-24T06:49:26.215Z","robots_txt_url":"https://github.com/robots.txt","online":true,"can_crawl_api":true,"host_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub","repositories_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories","repository_names_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repository_names","owners_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners"}},"keywords":[],"created_at":"2026-07-29T06:01:27.619Z","updated_at":"2026-07-29T06:01:29.439Z","avatar_url":"https://github.com/DUBSOpenHub.png","language":"Python","funding_links":[],"categories":[],"sub_categories":[],"readme":"# 🔭 Sidecar — A Terminal Translator for Non-Technical People\n\n\u003e **Claim yours in one command:**\n\u003e ```bash\n\u003e curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DUBSOpenHub/copilot-sidecar/main/install.sh | bash\n\u003e ```\n\n**Sidecar watches a developer's terminal and explains what's happening in plain English.**\n\nIt's for product managers, designers, executives, and anyone who works *with* developers but doesn't write code. Instead of watching a developer's screen and feeling lost, you get a running commentary — like a sports announcer for software development.\n\n```\n┌─── DEVELOPER'S TERMINAL ──────────┬─── YOUR SIDECAR PANEL ────────────┐\n│                                    │                                    │\n│  $ npm test                        │  🧪 QUALITY CHECK                  │\n│  FAIL src/auth/login.test.ts       │  Running 47 automated checks to   │\n│    ✕ should reject invalid pass    │  make sure the code works. Like a  │\n│                                    │  spell-checker, but for logic.     │\n│  Tests: 1 failed, 46 passed       │  3 checks failed — will fix next.  │\n│                                    │                                    │\n│                                    │  💬 Not sure what to ask? Try:     │\n│                                    │    [1] What do these failures mean?│\n│                                    │    [2] Is this a real problem?     │\n│                                    │    [3] What would fixing involve?  │\n│                                    │    [4] Is everything still safe?   │\n└────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘\n```\n\n---\n\n## Why This Exists\n\nNon-technical people don't want to become developers. They want to **understand what developers do** — evaluate technical proposals, ask better questions, and know when \"almost done\" really means three more weeks of debugging.\n\nSidecar bridges that gap. It sits in a side panel, watches the developer's work, and translates it — automatically, in real time, without interrupting anyone.\n\n## What It Does\n\n| | Feature | What you experience |\n|---|---------|-------------------|\n| 👀 | **Watch** | A running narration of what the developer is doing, like a commentator |\n| 💬 | **Ask** | Ask any question and get a jargon-free answer |\n| 💡 | **Suggest** | Contextual prompts when you're not sure what to ask |\n| 🛡️ | **Safe?** | Instant reassurance that nothing is broken (type `safe?` anytime) |\n| 📖 | **Learn** | A personal glossary that grows as you learn technical terms |\n| 🎬 | **Demo** | Pre-recorded walkthroughs when no developer is actively working |\n\n## Who It's For\n\n- **Product managers** watching a sprint in progress\n- **Designers** reviewing frontend work with an engineer\n- **Executives** who want to understand what their engineering team does\n- **Data analysts** collaborating on data pipeline work\n- **Anyone** who's ever watched a developer's screen and thought \"what is happening?\"\n\n---\n\n## Quick Start\n\n### What You Need\n\n| Requirement | What it is | How to get it |\n|-------------|-----------|---------------|\n| **macOS or Linux** | Your operating system | You probably already have one |\n| **GitHub Copilot CLI** | The AI assistant that powers Sidecar | [Install guide →](https://cli.github.com) |\n| **tmux** *(optional)* | Splits your screen into two panels | Mac: `brew install tmux` · Linux: `sudo apt install tmux` |\n\n### Install (30 seconds)\n\n```bash\n# 1. Copy the skill files\ncp -r sidecar/ ~/.copilot/skills/sidecar/\n\n# 2. Copy the launcher\ncp sidecar.sh ~/bin/sidecar \u0026\u0026 chmod +x ~/bin/sidecar\n\n# 3. Launch\nsidecar\n```\n\nNo tmux? No problem — use solo mode:\n```bash\nsidecar --solo\n```\n\n### First Launch\n\nSidecar asks **one question** to learn your comfort level, then starts narrating. That's it.\n\n```\n  1️⃣  I'm new to this — explain everything simply\n  2️⃣  I know some basics — just flag unusual things\n  3️⃣  I'm a developer — skip the hand-holding\n```\n\n---\n\n## How It Works (Non-Technical Version)\n\nSidecar reads the developer's terminal screen — **read-only, it never changes anything** — and:\n\n1. **Recognizes commands** → \"The developer just ran quality checks\"\n2. **Translates to plain English** → Shows a narration card explaining what happened and why\n3. **Filters jargon** → Replaces technical terms with definitions you can understand\n4. **Suggests questions** → Shows numbered prompts you can select with one keystroke\n\nThe first time Sidecar sees a term like \"git commit,\" it explains it fully. After you've seen it 5 times, it stops explaining — you've graduated that term.\n\n## How It Works (Technical Version)\n\nSidecar is a [GitHub Copilot CLI skill](https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/github-copilot-in-the-cli) — a markdown prompt file (`SKILL.md`) that instructs the Copilot CLI how to behave. It runs in a tmux side pane and reads the main pane via `tmux capture-pane`, diffs the output, classifies events against pattern-matched narration cards, applies a jargon firewall, and renders 3-line explanation cards with confidence/freshness badges. All user state (glossary progress, language level) persists in `~/.copilot/sidecar/user-profile.json`.\n\nNo server. No database. No daemon. Just a skill file, some JSON configs, and a bash launcher.\n\n---\n\n## Commands\n\nType any of these in the Sidecar panel at any time:\n\n| Command | What it does |\n|---------|-------------|\n| `safe?` | Am I safe? Instant status check |\n| `what?` | What just happened? |\n| `chips` | Show me suggested questions |\n| `glossary` | Show terms I've learned |\n| `beginner` | Switch to simple explanations |\n| `expert` | Switch to technical mode |\n| `1` `2` `3` `4` | Pick a suggested question |\n\n---\n\n## Project Structure\n\n```\nsidecar/                    ← The skill (install this)\n├── SKILL.md                 ← Core brain — 1,300 lines of prompt engineering\n├── jargon-dictionary.json   ← 53 technical terms with plain-English definitions\n├── narration-cards.json     ← 10 command patterns mapped to explanation cards\n├── question-templates.json  ← Context-aware suggested questions\n├── demos/                   ← 3 pre-recorded walkthroughs\n└── README.md                ← Setup guide\n\nsidecar.sh                  ← Launcher script with preflight checks\n\nPRD.md                      ← Product requirements (what to build and why)\nARCH.md                     ← Architecture design (how it's built)\ntest_sealed.py              ← Spec-driven behavioral tests (196 cases)\ntest_open.py                ← Implementation tests (74 cases)\nGAP-REPORT.md               ← QA validation results\nOUTCOME-REPORT.md           ← Final scorecard against requirements\n```\n\n## How This Was Built\n\nThis project was built using the [Dark Factory](https://github.com/DUBSOpenHub/dark-factory) pipeline — an agentic build system that orchestrates 6 specialist AI agents through a checkpoint-gated process with sealed-envelope testing:\n\n1. **Product Manager** → Wrote the PRD (actually pre-written by [Havoc Hackathon](https://github.com/DUBSOpenHub/havoc-hackathon) #48 — 23 AI agents across 13 models)\n2. **Architect** → Designed the system (ARCH.md)\n3. **QA Engineer** → Wrote behavioral tests from the spec alone, never seeing code (sealed-envelope protocol)\n4. **Lead Engineer** → Built the implementation and open tests\n5. **QA Validator** → Ran both test suites, computed a gap score\n6. **Lead Engineer (Hardening)** → Fixed the 5 gaps the sealed tests found\n7. **Outcome Evaluator** → Scored the final build: **100/100, 270/270 tests passing**\n\n*\"Sealed-envelope testing\"* means the QA engineer writes tests from the spec before any code exists, and never sees the implementation. The engineer never sees the QA tests. This catches spec-vs-implementation drift that traditional TDD misses.\n\n---\n\n---\n\n## 📸 Screenshots\n\n\u003c!-- Screenshots coming soon! If you'd like to contribute screenshots, open a PR. --\u003e\n\n_Screenshots of the Sidecar experience will be added here. Want to help? Run Sidecar and share a screenshot in a [pull request](https://github.com/DUBSOpenHub/copilot-sidecar/pulls)!_\n\n## Platform Support\n\n| Platform | Status |\n|----------|--------|\n| macOS | ✅ Fully supported |\n| Linux | ✅ Fully supported |\n| Windows (WSL) | 🟡 Should work via WSL, untested |\n| Windows (native) | ❌ Not supported (requires bash + tmux) |\n\n## Status\n\n**v1.0.0** — All P0 features shipped. 270 tests passing. Ready for use.\n\n---\n\n*Built for people who work with developers but don't write code.*\n","project_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Fdubsopenhub%2Fcopilot-sidecar","html_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/projects/github.com%2Fdubsopenhub%2Fcopilot-sidecar","lists_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Fdubsopenhub%2Fcopilot-sidecar/lists"}