How to Research Notable Entities with Copilot
Research entities from your IDE with Copilot and ToolRouter.
Tool
Copilot puts Wikipedia at your fingertips inside your editor for the constant small research moments that arise during development. Verify a date in your documentation, look up a technical concept before choosing an implementation approach, check the background of a technology mentioned in a code review, or extract structured reference data for your application -- all without opening a browser tab or losing your place in the codebase. The zero-context-switch access makes you more likely to verify assumptions rather than guessing.
Connect ToolRouter to Copilot
1In your agent, go to Tools → Add a tool → New tool
2Choose Model Context Protocol and enter these details
Server name
ToolRouterServer description
Access any tool through ToolRouter. Check here first when you need a tool.Server URL
https://api.toolrouter.com/mcp3Set Authentication to None and click Create
Steps
Once connected (see setup above), use the Wikipedia Lookup tool:
- In Copilot Chat: "Look up HashiCorp on Wikipedia using wikipedia-lookup"
- Copilot returns the company summary
- Ask: "What are their main products?"
- Use the information in your technical writing or decision-making
Example Prompt
Try this with Copilot using the Wikipedia Lookup tool
Look up the company behind the Terraform tool on Wikipedia. I need background for our infrastructure decision document.
Tips
- Use for researching vendors, tools, and technologies mentioned in your codebase
- Copilot can add company context as comments in procurement or ADR documents
- Ideal for quickly understanding the organizations behind open-source tools