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    <title>Forem: Shannie Chekani</title>
    <description>The latest articles on Forem by Shannie Chekani (@shannieche).</description>
    <link>https://forem.com/shannieche</link>
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      <title>Forem: Shannie Chekani</title>
      <link>https://forem.com/shannieche</link>
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      <title>Resolution Tracker: Secure &amp; Scalable with GitHub Copilot CLI</title>
      <dc:creator>Shannie Chekani</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 22:37:37 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://forem.com/shannieche/resolution-tracker-secure-scalable-with-github-copilot-cli-35ki</link>
      <guid>https://forem.com/shannieche/resolution-tracker-secure-scalable-with-github-copilot-cli-35ki</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is a submission for the &lt;a href="https://dev.to/challenges/github-2026-01-21"&gt;GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  What I Built
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I built a Secure Resolution Tracker using Flask and SQLAlchemy. While the core idea was to help users manage their 2026 goals, the "Agentic" phase of this project turned it into a lesson in security. I used the GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.410) to transform a standard CRUD app into a secure, production-ready tool.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Key Features:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Full CRUD: Create, read, update, and delete resolutions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Zero-Trust Security: Protection against Open Redirect attacks and unauthorized data modification.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Agentic Documentation: Custom copilot-instructions.md to guide AI development. &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  Demo
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;GitHub Repository: &lt;a href="https://github.com/ShannieCh/Create_ResolutionList_Flask" rel="noopener noreferrer"&gt;https://github.com/ShannieCh/Create_ResolutionList_Flask&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Test Account: &lt;a href="mailto:hanna@gmail.com"&gt;hanna@gmail.com&lt;/a&gt; / hanna123 (used for the Agentic Security Audit).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The User Interface: A secure, Full-CRUD dashboard where users manage their 2026 resolutions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Agentic Security Workflow&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
I used the GitHub Copilot CLI to audit and secure the application. Here is the process in action:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Security Audit:
Using the GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.410) in Agent Mode to perform a &lt;a class="mentioned-user" href="https://dev.to/workspace"&gt;@workspace&lt;/a&gt; security audit on my routes.py file.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fdxh1v8b6y9atripd70px.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"&gt;&lt;img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fdxh1v8b6y9atripd70px.png" alt=" " width="800" height="320"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Mitigation Plan:
Copilot CLI's 'Plan Mode' identified an Open Redirect vulnerability and outlined a structured approach to block external malicious URLs using urllib.parse.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ftgzuyfqhgp4o8sz4ux82.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"&gt;&lt;img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ftgzuyfqhgp4o8sz4ux82.png" alt=" " width="800" height="326"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Implementing the Refactor:
Following the agent's plan, I refactored routes.py to include robust error handling and database rollback logic, ensuring application stability.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Frwbq8bu6yj1ne4hmpdp9.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"&gt;&lt;img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Frwbq8bu6yj1ne4hmpdp9.png" alt=" " width="800" height="414"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;VS Code Workspace Organization
Professional project structure in VS Code with a properly configured .gitignore to protect sensitive local files.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fsl6kngfgzorvb3k5sztd.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"&gt;&lt;img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fsl6kngfgzorvb3k5sztd.png" alt=" " width="800" height="576"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Final Clean Repository
The final, production-ready GitHub repository featuring the copilot-instructions.md governance file.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fuxajejdihhuhqf24yzyf.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"&gt;&lt;img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fuxajejdihhuhqf24yzyf.png" alt=" " width="800" height="449"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;
  
  
  My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI
&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Integrating the GitHub Copilot CLI in Agent Mode was a game-changer. Instead of just asking for code snippets, I used the CLI to "oversee" the project:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The Security Audit: I used the terminal agent to scan my workspace, identifying a critical Open Redirect vulnerability I had missed.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Strategic Planning: Using 'Plan Mode,' I architected a multi-step fix involving a is_safe_url utility and updated SQLAlchemy models to handle cascade deletes.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Governance: I created a copilot-instructions.md file to ensure the agent always follows my security standards for future updates.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Repository Hygiene: The CLI helped me configure a strict .gitignore, ensuring that venv/ and flask.db were never leaked to the public repository.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Copilot didn't just write code; it acted as a security lead, helping me find flaws and planning the refactors needed to fix them. &lt;/p&gt;

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      <category>githubcopilotchallenge</category>
      <category>security</category>
      <category>python</category>
      <category>flask</category>
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