7 Steps to Build an AI-Powered Emoji List Generator with GitHub Copilot CLI

Introduction

Every week on Rubber Duck Thursdays, the GitHub team streams live coding sessions, co-working with the community, and answering burning questions. Recently, we tackled a fun and practical project: an emoji list generator powered by the GitHub Copilot CLI. This tool saves you from manually hunting for the perfect emoji for your bullet lists—whether for tweets, launch notes, or PR descriptions. In this article, I’ll walk you through the seven key steps we followed, from ideation to a fully functional open-source app. You’ll learn about the technologies involved, how we leveraged Copilot’s plan and autopilot modes, and how you can build your own version. Let’s dive in!