Add GitHub Actions workflow for Copilot agent environment setup

[Copilot]

Overview

This PR adds a new GitHub Actions workflow file .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml to preconfigure the environment for GitHub Copilot agents. This workflow ensures that Copilot agents have the necessary dependencies and tools installed before they begin their operations.

Changes

• Created .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml with a job named copilot-setup-steps (required by GitHub Copilot)
• Integrated setup steps from the existing build-and-test.yml workflow to ensure consistency:
  • Checkout code using actions/checkout@v5
  • Setup .NET SDK with versions 3.1.x and 8.x using actions/setup-dotnet@v5
  • Restore project dependencies with dotnet restore

Workflow Configuration

• Runs on: ubuntu-latest
• Permissions: contents: read (minimal permissions required)
• Triggers:
  • Manual dispatch via the Actions tab
  • Automatic execution on push/PR when the workflow file itself is modified (for easy validation)

Benefits

• GitHub Copilot agents will have a properly configured .NET environment with all dependencies restored
• Reduces setup time and potential errors during agent operations
• Maintains consistency with the existing CI/CD pipeline setup steps
• Allows for easy testing and validation of the setup process

This workflow follows GitHub's recommended pattern for Copilot agent setup and uses the same action versions as the existing build-and-test.yml workflow for consistency.

Original prompt

Create a GitHub Actions workflow file at .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml to preconfigure the environment for GitHub Copilot agents. The workflow should include a single job named 'copilot-setup-steps'. Integrate setup and reusable actions from the existing build and test CI workflows to ensure consistency and proper environment configuration.

ex:

name: "Copilot Setup Steps"

# Automatically run the setup steps when they are changed to allow for easy validation, and
# allow manual testing through the repository's "Actions" tab
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    paths:
      - .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml

jobs:
  # The job MUST be called `copilot-setup-steps` or it will not be picked up by Copilot.
  copilot-setup-steps:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    # Set the permissions to the lowest permissions possible needed for your steps.
    # Copilot will be given its own token for its operations.
    permissions:
      # If you want to clone the repository as part of your setup steps, for example to install dependencies, you'll need the `contents: read` permission. If you don't clone the repository in your setup steps, Copilot will do this for you automatically after the steps complete.
      contents: read

    # You can define any steps you want, and they will run before the agent starts.
    # If you do not check out your code, Copilot will do this for you.
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v5
etc...

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✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.