Get started with OS Copilot

Supported operating systems

Benefits

• Intelligent

  OS Copilot continuously learns from your usage patterns to improve accuracy and provide predictive suggestions.

• Expert

  OS Copilot provides expert answers to operating system questions.

• Efficient

  OS Copilot helps you with system diagnosis, optimization, and programming.

• Collaborative

  Manage your Alibaba Cloud resources with OS Copilot for an integrated service experience.

Features

• Natural language Q&A on the command line

  OS Copilot allows you to ask questions in natural language directly from the command line, providing expert answers related to daily use and OS-specific topics. This improves your operational efficiency and overall experience.

• Assisted command execution

  OS Copilot's assisted command execution feature helps new Linux users quickly master basic skills.

• Alibaba Cloud CLI integration

  OS Copilot integrates with the Alibaba Cloud CLI, allowing you to manage Alibaba Cloud products and query ECS information with simple commands directly from the operating system.

• System O&M and optimization

  System O&M and optimization are critical scenarios where the performance of the operating system significantly impacts your business. OS Copilot lets you use natural language to invoke relevant O&M and optimization tools, especially Alibaba Cloud's proprietary system tools, making it easier to diagnose system issues and improve performance.

Prerequisites

• If you are a RAM user, ensure the root Alibaba Cloud account has granted your user the AliyunSysOMOSCopilotAccess system policy. For more information, see Grant permissions to a RAM User.

• OS Copilot runs only on Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances.

Install OS Copilot

1. Install the latest version of OS Copilot.

   Alibaba Cloud Linux

   Check if OS Copilot is installed.

   rpm -q os-copilot

   • If it is not installed, run the following command to install it.

     sudo yum install -y os-copilot

   • If it is already installed, run the following command to upgrade it to the latest version.

     sudo yum update os-copilot

   Ubuntu, Anolis OS, or CentOS

   • For x86_64 architecture:

     curl -#S https://mirrors.aliyun.com/os-copilot/os-copilot-all-in-one-latest.sh | sudo bash

   • For aarch64 architecture:

     curl -#S https://mirrors.aliyun.com/os-copilot/os-copilot-all-in-one-arm-latest.sh | sudo bash

2. Configure your credentials.

   You can configure credentials in either of the following ways. We recommend using ECS instance role-based authentication to minimize the risk of exposing your AccessKey pair.

   ECS instance role

   Limitations

   For the latest information, see Instance RAM Roles.

   Procedure

   1. Log in to the RAM console to create a RAM role and grant permissions to it.

      1. Create a RAM role for an Alibaba Cloud service.

         In the left-side navigation pane, choose Identities > Roles, and then click Create Role. Follow the on-screen instructions to create the role. Pay attention to the following parameters. For more information about other parameters, see Create a common service role.

         • For Select Trusted Entity, select Alibaba Cloud Service.

         • For Role Type, select Normal Service Role. For Trusted Service, select Elastic Compute Service.

         

      2. Grant the AliyunSysOMOSCopilotAccess permission to the newly created RAM role.

         

   2. Assign the RAM role to your ECS instance.

      1. Go to ECS console - Instances.

      2. In the top navigation bar, select the resource group and region where your target instance is located.

      3. Click the ID of the target instance to go to its details page. In the upper-right corner of the page, choose More > Grant/Revoke RAM Role.

      4. In the dialog box that appears, select the instance RAM role you created, and click OK.

   AK/SK authentication

   Run the following commands to configure environment variables.

   export ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<AccessKey ID>
   export ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET=<AccessKey Secret>

   Note

   Replace <AccessKey ID> and <AccessKey Secret> with your actual AccessKey ID and AccessKey Secret.

   • For more information, see View the AccessKey pair of a RAM User.

   • The AccessKey Secret is displayed only when you create an AccessKey pair and cannot be retrieved later.

Upgrade or uninstall OS Copilot

sudo rm -f /bin/co /bin/copilot /etc/profile.d/os-copilot_fix_command_tool_config.sh

Use OS Copilot

# Instructions:
# 1. Copy this file to the default path: ~/.copilot_tool/config.toml
#    OR
# 2. Copy this file to any location and set the environment variable OS_COPILOT_CONFIG_PATH to point to its path.

# For general conversation and tasks
[default]
model_name = "qwen3-max"  
[default.generate_kwargs]
temperature = 0.2
max_tokens = 2000
top_p = 0.5

# For code-related tasks
[code]
model_name = "qwen3-coder-plus"
[code.generate_kwargs]
temperature = 0.1
max_tokens = 4000
top_p = 0.5


# MCP (Model Context Protocol) Configuration
[[mcp]]
name = "mcp_tool_1"               # MCP server name
transport = "streamable_http"     # Transport protocol: 'streamable_http' or 'sse'
url = ""                          # MCP service endpoint
# timeout = 30                    # Optional: Connection timeout (seconds)
# sse_read_timeout = 300          # Optional: SSE read timeout (seconds)
# headers = { }                   # Optional: Custom request headers

# Example: Add a second MCP service
[[mcp]]
name = "mcp_tool_2"
transport = "streamable_http"
url = ""

# co --help
usage: copilot [-h] [-v] [--mode MODE] [--task] [-f FILE] [prompt ...]

OS Copilot: An OS assistant using LLM technique

positional arguments:
  prompt                The prompt containing your query. If empty, interactive mode is entered.

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, -V, --version     show version info and exit
  --mode MODE, -m MODE, -M MODE
                        specify the MODE to use (optional). available MODE: chat, task, aliyun, codesum, codegen
  --task, -t, -T        task mode(can use mcp tools),automatically identify and execute tasks
  -f FILE, --file FILE  get prompt from the FILE

Hands-on lab

Explore features like Q&A, assisted O&M, and code learning in our hands-on lab. This lab helps you efficiently solve system problems and improve your programming productivity. Access the lab here: [Lab] Unlock OS O&M and Programming with OS Copilot.

Console diagnostic agent

The diagnostic agent in the Operating System Console's smart assistant automatically runs diagnostic tools when you ask for help with an issue.

Procedure

1. Open the smart assistant chat box on the Operating System Console page.

   

2. Start a conversation with the smart assistant about a diagnostic issue, for example, a memory anomaly.

   Enter a query, such as "memory anomaly". The assistant guides you to provide the necessary information for diagnosis, such as the ECS Instance ID and Region.

   Output: Prompts the user to enter additional diagnostic information.

   Input: ECS ID and Region

   

   

   After you provide the required information, the system indicates that a diagnosis is in progress.

   When the diagnosis is complete, the assistant provides a summary of the results.

   

   

   Click the link to view the detailed diagnosis report.

3. You can continue the conversation or ask about other diagnostic functions.

   Input: Other questions

   Output: A normal response is returned.

If the conversation freezes or becomes unresponsive, type "Start a new conversation" to restart.

Product video

Technical support

If you have any questions or suggestions while using OS Copilot, you can use the following channels to provide feedback and obtain technical support.

• DingTalk Group (Recommended): Join the technical support DingTalk group (ID: 71050008820) to contact technical support.

• Submit a ticket: You can also submit a ticket for more free support.

• Documentation feedback: If you find any issues with the product documentation, such as broken links, incorrect content, or API errors, you can click Feedback in the floating menu on the right side of the page or select the problematic content and click Feedback.

• To help us improve OS Copilot, please fill out our survey.