Quick answer
The Microsoft Discovery app is a preview desktop experience, downloaded from Microsoft’s official GitHub repository and started with a GitHub Copilot account. Use it for bounded local exploration: literature, hypotheses, scientific reasoning, and iterative experimentation.
Before installing, verify the repository and release, approved operating environment, GitHub organization policy, eligible Copilot plan, dependency provenance, outbound services, data classification, and reproducibility plan.
Install from verified source
- Open the repository linked from Microsoft’s current Discovery documentation.
- Confirm the owner is Microsoft and review the release and commit you will use.
- Read current system, runtime, package, model, account, and network requirements.
- Review license, security policy, issues, updates, and upgrade or uninstall path.
- Install in an isolated environment without production or unrestricted research credentials.
- Record exact app, dependency, operating-system, and Copilot versions.
Do not execute an arbitrary fork or copied installation command with access to lab data. Pin dependencies and review material updates before adoption.
Separate local files from service context
Create a data-flow table for each workflow: local file, derived data, prompt context, external search, package download, model request, output, telemetry, and log. Mark owner, classification, lawful or contractual basis, destination, retention, and deletion.
Use minimized or synthetic data for initial tests. Keep secrets out of prompts, notebooks, shell history, screenshots, crash reports, and repository files. Restrict the GitHub account and token to the required organization and repository scope.
Make local work reproducible
For every result, store:
- question, hypothesis, and decision rule;
- source URL or identifier and retrieval date;
- input snapshot and transformation checksums;
- app commit or release, model, prompt, and settings;
- package lock, environment, hardware, and random seed where applicable;
- code, output, errors, reviewer notes, and independent checks.
The app can organize reasoning, but a scientist still validates citations, code, statistics, units, data exclusions, visualization, domain assumptions, and experimental claims.
Plan the enterprise handoff
Microsoft says work can move into the generally available Discovery platform as projects mature. Before a handoff, compare identity, data, source, tool, agent, compute, storage, and permission models. Re-run critical results and document differences.
Use the GA versus preview comparison for the lifecycle decision and the Bookshelf governance guide for institutional-source controls.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I download the Microsoft Discovery app?
Microsoft’s June 2, 2026 announcement directs users to the official microsoft/discovery GitHub repository. Verify the repository owner, release, checksum or signature when provided, documentation, license, dependencies, and issue history before installation.
Do I need GitHub Copilot?
Microsoft says users can get started with the preview app using a GitHub Copilot account. Verify the current eligible Copilot plan, organization policy, account, price, region, terms, and model or usage limits.
Does a local app keep every input on my machine?
Do not assume so. Document model requests, Copilot services, external sources, packages, telemetry, logs, connectors, and network calls. Use approved data and verify retention, region, contracts, and deletion for each service.
Bottom line
Treat the app as a preview research environment, not an unbounded local assistant. Verify source, isolate installation, map data flows, version the environment, and preserve an evidence package for review and migration.
Official source
Source check: August 2, 2026. Recheck the official repository and live Copilot, system, data, security, and lifecycle documentation.