diff --git a/.github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml b/.github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..772962d85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+name: Setup Development Environment for GitHub Copilot
+
+
+# Automatically run the setup steps when they are changed to allow for easy validation, and
+# allow manual testing through the repository's "Actions" tab
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  push:
+    paths:
+      - .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - .github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml
+
+jobs:
+  # The job MUST be called `copilot-setup-steps` or it will not be picked up by Copilot.
+  copilot-setup-steps:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    # Only let github read the repository contents
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v5
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 30 # Fetch past 30 commits, so reasonable amount of commit context is included
+
+      - name: Setup Ruby
+        uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
+        with:
+          bundler-cache: true
+      
+      - name: Run bin/setup
+        run: bin/setup --skip-server
+
+      - name: Validate setup
+        run: |
+          echo "Testing database connectivity..."
+          bundle exec rails runner \
+            "puts 'Database connection: OK'; \
+            puts 'User count: ' + User.count.to_s"
+
+          echo "Running code style validation..."
+          bundle exec standardrb
+
+          echo "Running test suite..."
+          bundle exec rake test
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/seeds.rb b/db/seeds.rb
index 4527740e8..ce7c0f3df 100644
--- a/db/seeds.rb
+++ b/db/seeds.rb
@@ -451,4 +451,8 @@
 Rake::Task["backfill:speaker_participation"].invoke
 Rake::Task["backfill:event_involvements"].invoke
 Rake::Task["speakerdeck:set_usernames_from_slides_url"].invoke
-Rake::Task["contributors:fetch"].invoke
+begin
+  Rake::Task["contributors:fetch"].invoke
+rescue ApplicationClient::Unauthorized => e
+  puts "Skipping fetching contributors: #{e.message}"
+end
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index bf8c57d14..ba9c83469 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -815,9 +815,9 @@ camelcase-css@^2.0.1:
   integrity sha512-QOSvevhslijgYwRx6Rv7zKdMF8lbRmx+uQGx2+vDc+KI/eBnsy9kit5aj23AgGu3pa4t9AgwbnXWqS+iOY+2aA==
 
 caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001688, caniuse-lite@^1.0.30001702:
-  version "1.0.30001707"
-  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/caniuse-lite/-/caniuse-lite-1.0.30001707.tgz"
-  integrity sha512-3qtRjw/HQSMlDWf+X79N206fepf4SOOU6SQLMaq/0KkZLmSjPxAkBOQQ+FxbHKfHmYLZFfdWsO3KA90ceHPSnw==
+  version "1.0.30001759"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/caniuse-lite/-/caniuse-lite-1.0.30001759.tgz"
+  integrity sha512-Pzfx9fOKoKvevQf8oCXoyNRQ5QyxJj+3O0Rqx2V5oxT61KGx8+n6hV/IUyJeifUci2clnmmKVpvtiqRzgiWjSw==
 
 chalk@^4.0.0:
   version "4.1.2"