Configure your GitHub Spec Kit lab environment

Before you begin the Spec-Driven Development with GitHub Dev Kit lab exercise, you need to ensure that your development environment includes the required tools and resources.

Your lab environment must include the following resources:

Git version 2.48 or later.
The .NET SDK version 8.0 or later.
Access to a GitHub account with GitHub Copilot enabled.
Visual Studio Code with the C# Dev Kit and GitHub Copilot Chat extensions.
SQL Server LocalDB.
Python version 3.11 or later.
The uv package manager.

Install the GitHub, .NET, and Visual Studio Code resources

The “Spec-Driven Development with GitHub Dev Kit” lab exercise uses GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code as the primary AI assistant. To use GitHub Copilot, you need access to a GitHub account with a GitHub Copilot subscription. GitHub requires Git for version control operations. The lab application that you’ll be working on was built using .NET (ASP.NET Core 8.0 and Blazor).

Complete the following steps to ensure that the required GitHub, .NET, and Visual Studio Code tools and resources are available.

Ensure that Git version 2.48 or later is installed in your lab environment.

Run the following command in a terminal window to check the installed version of Git:
```
 git --version
```
If you’re running Windows and you want to update Git, you can use the following command:
```
 git update-git-for-windows
```
If necessary, you can download Git using the following URL: Download Git.
Ensure that Git is configured to use your name and email address.

If required, you can use the following commands to set your Git user name and email address.

NOTE: Update the following commands with your information before you run the commands.
```
 git config --global user.name "Julie Miller"
```
```
 git config --global user.email julie.miller@example.com
```
Ensure that the .NET 8.0 SDK, or a later version, is installed in your lab environment.

Installing the latest LTS or STS version of the .NET SDK is recommended, however, you can use .NET 8.0 to complete this exercise.

Run the following command in a terminal window to check the installed version of the .NET SDK:
```
 dotnet --version
```
If necessary, you can download the .NET SDK using the following URL: Download .NET SDK.
Ensure that the .NET SDK is configured to use the official NuGet.org repository as a source for downloading and restoring packages.

For example, open a terminal window and then run the following command:
```
 dotnet nuget add source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json -n nuget.org
```
Ensure that Visual Studio Code and the C# Dev Kit extension are installed in your lab environment.

If necessary, you can download Visual Studio Code using the following URL: Download Visual Studio Code

You can install the C# Dev Kit extension using the Extensions view in Visual Studio Code.
Ensure that you have access to a GitHub account and GitHub Copilot subscription.

You can log in to your GitHub account using the following URL: GitHub login.

If you don’t have a GitHub account, you can create an individual account from the GitHub login page. On the login page, select Create an account.

Open the settings/profile page of your GitHub account and verify that you have access to a GitHub Copilot subscription. If you have an active subscription for GitHub Copilot Pro, GitHub Copilot Pro+, GitHub Copilot Business, or GitHub Copilot Enterprise that you can use for training, you can use your existing GitHub Copilot subscription to complete the GitHub Copilot exercises.

If you have an individual GitHub account, but you don’t have a GitHub Copilot subscription, you can set up a GitHub Copilot Free plan from Visual Studio Code during a training exercise.

IMPORTANT: The GitHub Copilot Free plan is a limited version of GitHub Copilot, allowing up to 2,000 code completions and 50 chats or premium requests per month. If you use a GitHub Copilot Free plan outside training exercises, you may exceed the plan’s resource limits before completing the training. The GitHub Copilot Free plan is not available for GitHub Copilot Pro, GitHub Copilot Pro+, GitHub Copilot Business, or GitHub Copilot Enterprise subscriptions.
Ensure that GitHub Copilot Chat is accessible in your Visual Studio Code environment.

You can install the GitHub Copilot Chat extension using the Extensions view in Visual Studio Code.

Install the lab application dependencies

The application that you’re working on during the lab uses a SQL Server LocalDB database to store application data. SQL Server LocalDB is a lightweight version of SQL Server that’s ideal for development and testing.

Complete the following steps to ensure that SQL Server LocalDB is installed in your lab environment.

Check to see if SQL Server LocalDB is installed in your lab environment.

Run the following command in a terminal window to check for LocalDB installation:
```
 sqllocaldb info
```
Expected output: List of LocalDB instances or an empty list if none exist. For example:
```
 MSSQLLocalDB
```
If the command fails or LocalDB is not installed, use the following steps to install SQL Server 2019 LocalDB. Otherwise, skip to the “Install the GitHub Spec Kit tools and resources” section.
To download the SQL Server 2019 Express edition installer file, open the following link in a browser: SQL Server 2019 Express download
After the download is complete, open the SQL Server 2019 installer file (for example, SQL2019-SSEI-Expr.exe).
On the SQL Server 2019 installation wizard, select Download Media.
Under Specify SQL Server installer download, select the LocalDB package, and then select the Download button.
When you see the Download successful message, select the Open folder button.
Run the SQL Server LocalDB installer file (for example, SqlLocalDB.msi), and then follow the prompts to complete the installation.
To verify the installation, open PowerShell or Command Prompt, and then run the following command:
```
 sqllocaldb info
```
You should see a list of LocalDB instances (or an empty list if none exist yet). For example:
```
 MSSQLLocalDB
```
If you need to create the default instance of MSSQLLocalDB, run the following commands:
```
 sqllocaldb create MSSQLLocalDB
 sqllocaldb start MSSQLLocalDB
```

Install the GitHub Spec Kit tools and resources

The GitHub Spec Kit’s command-line interface (CLI) tool is Python-based and requires Python 3.11 or later. The uv package manager is used to install and manage the GitHub Spec Kit CLI tool.

Complete the following steps to install and configure the GitHub Spec Kit tools and resources in your lab environment.

Ensure that Python 3.11 or later is installed in your lab environment.

GitHub Spec Kit’s CLI tool is Python-based and requires Python 3.11+.

To check the installed Python version, run the following command:
```
 python --version
```
Required output: Python 3.11.0 or later.

If you need to install Python, you can download the installer from the following URL: python.org.

If you’re in a corporate environment, you can also use your organization’s software distribution system.
Ensure that the uv package manager is installed in your lab environment.
```
 uv --version
```
You should see output similar to the following sample:
```
 uv 0.9.17 (2b5d65e61 2025-12-09)
```
To install uv using Windows PowerShell, run the following command:
```
 powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
```
GitHub Spec Kit uses uv for CLI installation and management.

You can find more installation instructions at the following URL: docs.astral.sh/uv.
To ensure that uv is in your environment PATH, restart your terminal window, and then run the following commands:
```
 cd C:\
 uv --version
```
You should see output similar to the following sample:
```
 uv 0.9.17 (2b5d65e61 2025-12-09)
```
Open a terminal window.

You can use a Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal window.
To install GitHub Spec Kit’s Specify CLI tool, run the following PowerShell command:
```
 uv tool install specify-cli --from git+https://github.com/github/spec-kit.git
```
This command installs the latest version directly from the GitHub repository and makes the specify command available system-wide.

The specify command-line tool is used to initialize projects for spec-driven development.
To ensure that the specify command is in your environment PATH, restart your terminal window, and then run the following command:
```
 specify version
```
After a short delay, you should see output that’s similar to the following sample:
```
      CLI Version    0.0.22
 Template Version    0.0.90
         Released    2025-12-04
           Python    3.14.0
         Platform    Windows
     Architecture    AMD64
       OS Version    10.0.26200
```
Troubleshooting installation issues:
- Command not found: If the specify command isn’t recognized after installation, the uv tools directory might not be in your PATH. To verify the installation, run uv tool list command. You might need to restart your terminal or manually add the tools directory to your PATH.
- In corporate environments with SSL interception, you might need to configure certificates. Contact your IT department for assistance.

Your GitHub Spec Kit development environment is now configured and ready.