Why This Matters

Onboarding is where Spaces shine. A curated Space compresses days of verbal knowledge transfer into a self-service experience. This lesson builds a repeatable onboarding kit.

Concept Explained

An onboarding Space contains: architecture docs, key repos, runbooks, coding conventions, and a 'first week' guide. New hires open the Space and can ask any question — Copilot answers grounded in the curated context.

How It Works

Gather: architecture.md, API specs, key repos (1–3), coding conventions, runbook. Create a Space. Add sources in order of importance. Test with a 'new hire' question. Iterate.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

1. Gather sources

2. Create Space

3. Add first-week guide

4. Test

5. Iterate

Real-World Example

A team built an onboarding Space. First new hire used it: 'How does the auth system work?' Got a grounded answer citing architecture.md and the auth code. 'What should I do on day 1?' Got the first-week guide. Onboarding went from 3 days to 1. Each new hire's feedback refined the Space.

Example Prompts / Commands / Code

Space: Backend Team Onboarding
Purpose: Self-service onboarding for new backend engineers.

Sources (in priority order):
1. docs/first-week-guide.md      — Day-by-day tasks for week 1
2. docs/architecture.md           — System architecture overview
3. docs/coding-conventions.md     — Team's code style and conventions
4. docs/api-spec.yaml             — OpenAPI spec for the service
5. docs/runbook.md                — Ops runbook for on-call
6. Repo: github.com/team/backend  — Main service repo
7. Repo: github.com/team/shared    — Shared libraries repo

Test questions:
- 'What should I do on day 1?'
- 'How does authentication work?'
- 'What are the coding conventions for TypeScript?'
- 'Who do I ask about deployments?'

Common Mistakes

• Adding every repo — dilutes signal. Add only key repos.
• No first-week guide — Space is just code, not actionable.
• Not iterating — onboarding needs evolve; Space should too.
• Forgetting coding conventions — new hires need to know the rules.

Best Practices

• Curate 5–7 sources; not more.
• Include a first-week guide with day-by-day tasks.
• Add coding conventions explicitly.
• Test with a 'new hire' question before publishing.
• Iterate based on each new hire's feedback.

Troubleshooting

Practical Exercise

Professional Challenge

Frequently Asked Questions

Further Reading

• Copilot Spaces

Official References

• Copilot Spaces

Related lessons: IN-18, IN-19