title: "Troubleshooting" description: "Diagnose and fix issues with GitHub Copilot in VS Code" section: "Copilot" readTime: "4 min"

Troubleshooting Copilot

View Extension Logs

Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Run Developer: Set Log Level → set to Trace for GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat
Run Output: Show Output Channels → select GitHub Copilot or GitHub Copilot Chat
Reproduce the issue, review errors near the failure, then restore the previous log levels (trace output is verbose)

Collect Network Diagnostics

If you cannot connect to Copilot:

Command Palette → GitHub Copilot: Chat Diagnostics
Compare any failed checks with your firewall, proxy, and VPN settings. A clean report covers only the connections it tested

Common causes: corporate firewalls, VPNs, proxy servers. See the FAQ.

Debug Chat Interactions

`/troubleshoot` command

Type /troubleshoot followed by your question in chat (in the Agents window, use /troubleshoot #session and pick the session):

/troubleshoot how many tokens did I use?
/troubleshoot list all paths you tried to load customizations

For local sessions, enable the experimental setting github.copilot.chat.agentDebugLog.fileLogging.enabled and reload the window before reproducing the issue; for Agent Host sessions enable chat.agentHost.agentDebugLog.enabled. Neither captures earlier activity.

Agent Debug Logs Panel (Preview)

Shows a chronological event log: tool call sequences, LLM requests, token usage, prompt file discovery, errors.

Open: Chat view ... menu → Show Agent Debug Logs

You can attach a snapshot to ask the AI to diagnose a specific interaction.

Chat Debug View

Shows raw LLM request/response data: full system prompt, user prompt, context, and tool payloads.

Open: Chat view ... menu → Show Chat Debug View

Troubleshoot MCP Servers

Command Palette → MCP: List Servers
Select a server → view status and actions
Show Output — view server logs
Restart Server — fix a misbehaving server

Common Issues

Problem	Solution
Inline suggestions not appearing	Check: Copilot not disabled globally/per-language; subscription active; network accessible; allowance not reached
Chat not working	Run Code: Check for Updates; verify sign-in and plan; check the Copilot status dashboard for credit or rate limits; retry in a new chat session
Agents not available	Enable `chat.agent.enabled`; contact org admin if policy-managed
Customizations not applied	Chat view context menu → Diagnostics; check the Agent Debug Logs for loaded files, file location, frontmatter, and `applyTo`. Prompt files are not applied automatically, invoke them in chat
Subscription not detected	Sign out and sign in with correct account; verify subscription at github.com/settings/copilot

Provide Feedback

Ghost text: Hover over suggestion → select Send Copilot Completion Feedback
NES: Gutter arrow → select Feedback
General issues: Help menu → Report Issue → VS Code Extension → GitHub Copilot Chat

Logs and exports can contain code, prompts, and file paths. Review them and never include credentials or secrets when sharing.

Troubleshooting