Authorization always hangs and then you can't quit copilot (might be related to not being able to launch browser in SSH session)

[benstaniford]

Describe the bug

When I attempt to authorize, I'm doing so on a linux arm64 machine that I'm ssh'd into. I get the device code and go to the URL specified on my main browser and then I I hit enter to say I've copied the device code manually. I then authorize on the website successfully, and then copilot hangs with this screen:

I've tried varying the order of authenticating and hitting enter and I've tried authenticating a total of 6 times now over several days. I have no problems with my internet connection and the machine I'm logged into has no problem talking to copilot more generally (I'm using the VS code copilot on there).

Additionally, when I try to ctrl-c out of the "Waiting for authorization", that also hangs giving me this:

Affected version

0.0.328

Steps to reproduce the behavior

When I attempt to authorize, I'm doing so on a linux arm64 machine that I'm ssh'd into. I get the device code and go to the URL specified on my main browser and then I I hit enter to say I've copied the device code manually. I then authorize on the website successfully, and then copilot hangs with this screen:

I've tried varying the order of authenticating and hitting enter and I've tried authenticating a total of 6 times now over several days. I have no problems with my internet connection and the machine I'm logged into has no problem talking to copilot more generally (I'm using the VS code copilot on there).

Additionally, when I try to ctrl-c out of the "Waiting for authorization", that also hangs giving me this:

Expected behavior

I should be able to authenticate

Additional context

OS: Debian Trixie Linux on ARM64 Raspberry Pi 5

[joan-code6]

I have the same error in the latest stabel release.

im also sshd into a raspi...

I can shutdown if i havent done /login yet but after being in the loop it doesnt

[visual-alchemy]

Same here, im using ubuntu server 24.

[despinozap]

Did you guys try the authentication adding the env as documentation says?

Even tho that authentication process isn't working, I solved it that way.

[benstaniford]

@despinozap Thanks, that's a good workaround! For some reason that particular permission is only available in the "public repositories" scope, so I've had to create a second PAT token specifically for copilot. However, it works.

The following alias helps use it without trampling my regular github PAT.

alias copilot='GH_TOKEN=$COPILOT_PAT /usr/local/bin/copilot'

[despinozap]

@benstaniford Cool! I also created a new token for that.
I'd like to be using that auth process but that's still broken in the callback flow or something like that I guess.
Well.. at least we can start playing around with the cli meanwhile it's fixed 🙌

[joan-code6]

@benstaniford the workaround doesnt work on my machine... maybe im just to dumb:

(venv) bennet@raspberrypi:~ $ alias copilot='GH_TOKEN=ghp_(my github pat) /usr/local/bin/copilot'
(venv) bennet@raspberrypi:~ $ copilot
Welcome to GitHub Copilot CLI
Version 0.0.331 · Commit eb0ae04

Copilot can write, test and debug code right from your terminal. Describe a
task to get started or enter ? for help. Copilot uses AI, check for mistakes.

Please use /login to sign in to use Copilot
~
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Enter @ to mention files or / for commands
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Ctrl+c Exit · Ctrl+r Expand Recent

Thank you for youre help!

[benstaniford]

@joan-code6 That looks ok.. Does your PAT token have the correct "Copilot Requests" permission?

[RyanHecht]

We should have a page that looks like this when we can't get your clipboard/can't launch your browser:

today I'll look into why this might not be firing correctly on SSH sessions -- I wonder if it's relevant that you're both on Raspberry Pi, too nevermind, saw the Ubuntu Server report as well

[RyanHecht]

Question: are you folks all SSH'd using VSCode remote? And can you still reproduce this bug if you SSH outside of VSCode?

[benstaniford]

@RyanHecht Thanks for looking into it!

are you folks all SSH'd using VSCode remote? And can you still reproduce this bug if you SSH outside of VSCode?

No, I'm using plain old Windows Terminal and the SSH version that comes with Git for Windows.

[benstaniford]

@RyanHecht I've just tried PuTTY as well, and I can reproduce the same issue with that.

[RyanHecht]

Thanks for trying that for me @benstaniford! One more thing to try: If you manually go to https://github.com/login/device and enter your code, does it continue to hang, or does it eventually complete after ~30 seconds?

(Sorry to keep sending you on fetch quests, but I haven't been able to reproduce this via SSH-ing into any of my machines thus far!)