Connect Pomeroy to GitHub Copilot CLI

GitHub Copilot CLI puts Copilot in your terminal, and it works with Pomeroy. Pomeroy sets itself up in it with one click. GitHub Copilot CLI can then read the apps you switched on, and no others.

What Set up does. Pomeroy runs Copilot CLI’s own mcp add command, which always writes your user configuration rather than one project’s.

Set up

Install Pomeroy and switch on your apps

Download Pomeroy, drag it into Applications and open it. Switch on the apps you want GitHub Copilot CLI to reach. Everything starts off, and macOS asks you to approve each app as you switch it on. The full walkthrough.

Install GitHub Copilot CLI, if you have not

Pomeroy lists the assistants it finds on this Mac, so install GitHub Copilot CLI first if it is not there. Returning to Pomeroy’s window re-checks.

Press Set up

In Pomeroy’s Assistants pane, find GitHub Copilot CLI and press Set up. It is safe to press any number of times. It writes the same thing every time, and it never disturbs another server already there.

Pick it up

No restart needed. GitHub Copilot CLI picks the server up on its own.

Ask something

In GitHub Copilot CLI, ask what is on your calendar today. The answer comes from your Mac.

The configuration

You do not need this. Set up writes it for you. It is here so you can see what Pomeroy adds, check it by hand, or set up a second Mac without opening the panel. Run it in the Terminal:

copilot mcp add pomeroy -- /Applications/Pomeroy.app/Contents/MacOS/pomeroy-mcp

The command is a single absolute path with no arguments, and it lives inside Pomeroy’s app bundle, so an update never changes it. What the pipe is.

Over the local endpoint

GitHub Copilot CLI can also reach Pomeroy over the HTTP endpoint instead of the pipe. Use it only for a copy running somewhere that cannot start a program on this Mac, such as a container or a remote workspace. Switch the local address on in Pomeroy’s Connections pane first. Run it in the Terminal:

copilot mcp add --transport http --header "Authorization: Bearer <the key Pomeroy generates>" pomeroy http://127.0.0.1:13579/mcp

Pomeroy writes the real token in place of the placeholder when it can reach this assistant’s settings. Otherwise you can read the token under Connections.

How to check it worked

Run copilot mcp list and pomeroy is listed. Inside a session, /mcp show pomeroy gives its tools. If the tools are missing, the cause is almost always that the assistant has not re-read its server list. Troubleshooting.

Worth knowing about GitHub Copilot CLI

Copilot CLI asks permission for every tool call, including read-only ones. That is Copilot’s own prompt, on top of the apps you switched on in Pomeroy.

What it can reach

Only the apps you switched on, and only through the tools Pomeroy publishes. GitHub Copilot CLI cannot send mail, send a message, delete anything or edit a contact, because no tool does those things.

What Pomeroy can do

Ten apps, 27 tools, and every refusal.

Permissions

What each toggle grants, and what macOS asks you for.

Other assistants

All 24, and what to do if yours is not listed.