Bug: copilot plugin update does not sync new version to config.json (still broken on v1.0.41)

[ericchansen]

Bug: copilot plugin update does not sync new version to config.json for local plugins

Description

After running copilot plugin update <name> on a locally-installed plugin, the plugin files on disk are updated to the latest version (git checkout succeeds), but the version field in ~/.copilot/config.json is not updated -- it still shows the version from the original install.

This was previously reported in #3058, which was closed without comment or fix reference. The bug persists on the latest CLI version.

Environment

• Copilot CLI: 1.0.41-1
• OS: Windows 11
• Shell: PowerShell 7

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install a plugin from a local path:
   copilot plugin install /path/to/my-plugin
   This produces a config.json entry with "marketplace": "local" and a cache_path pointing to the local directory.

2. Note the installed version in ~/.copilot/config.json:
   json {"name": "my-plugin", "version": "1.0.0", "marketplace": "local", "cache_path": "/path/to/my-plugin"}

3. The plugin repo gets a new tag (e.g., v1.1.0)

4. Update the plugin:
   copilot plugin update my-plugin
   Command reports success.

5. Check ~/.copilot/config.json -- version field is still "1.0.0"

Observed Behavior

Source	Version
~/.copilot/config.json installedPlugins[].version	1.0.0 ❌ (stale -- never updated)
plugin.json on disk (inside installed plugin dir)	1.1.0 ✅
git describe --tags --exact-match (in plugin install dir)	v1.1.0 ✅

Expected Behavior

After copilot plugin update succeeds, config.json's installedPlugins[].version should reflect the new version. copilot plugin list should report the actual installed version, not the stale install-time version.

Impact

• copilot plugin list reports the wrong version
• Any tooling reading config.json (TUIs, scripts, automation) shows stale versions
• Particularly affects "local" plugins (marketplace: "local") that have no package.json -- only plugin.json. The version detection fallback is:
  1. package.json -- not present for config-only plugins
  2. config.json version field -- permanently stale after first update

So for an entire class of plugins (git-backed, no package.json), the reported version is wrong after any update.

Suggested Fix

After the git operation completes in the update command, read the new version and write it back:

new_version = read("plugin.json").version ?? read("package.json").version ?? git_describe_tags() config.installedPlugins[name].version = new_version write(config_path, config)

Related

• Bug: plugin update does not sync new version to config.json #3058 (closed without fix -- same bug)
• copilot plugin update fails for directly-installed plugins: source field not persisted during install #1885 (related -- source field not persisted during install)

[tpope]

A fix for this did go out in 1.0.40. Just poked at a bit right now and wasn't able to reproduce your symptoms.

• Install a plugin from a GitHub repo:

  copilot plugin install owner/repo
  

• Note the installed version in ~/.copilot/config.json:

   {"name": "my-plugin", "version": "1.0.0", "marketplace": "local"}

This doesn't line up. Installing from an owner/repo won't have a "marketplace" of "local".

[ericchansen]

You're right -- thanks for catching that. The repro steps were wrong.

This is specifically about local plugins installed from a local path (copilot plugin install /path/to/my-plugin), which produces marketplace: "local" in config.json. I've corrected the issue body to reflect the actual scenario.

If the fix in 1.0.40 addressed owner/repo installs, it does not appear to cover the marketplace: "local" path.

[ericchansen]

Closing this -- after further investigation, the bug was in my own tooling (a TUI that performs git upgrades directly), not in copilot plugin update. I was unable to reproduce this against the CLI itself on either v1.0.40 or v1.0.41-1 with fresh local plugin installs. Apologies for the noise.