fix: don't exclude COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN from AWF container when copilot-requests feature is enabled by Copilot · Pull Request #25479 · github/gh-aw

Copilot · 2026-04-09T13:25:50Z

Copilot CLI v1.0.20+ validates COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN at startup before making any API calls. With features: copilot-requests: true, this token is ${{ github.token }} — not a secret — but was unconditionally added to AWF's --exclude-env list, causing the binary to silently exit with code 1 (~1.75s after spawn, no output).

Changes

copilot_engine_execution.go: Move useCopilotRequests computation before the BuildAWFCommand call. Only include COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN in coreExcludeVarNames when the token is a PAT (${{ secrets.COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}); omit it when the copilot-requests feature is active.
gh_cli_mount_test.go: Add test asserting COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN is not excluded when features: copilot-requests: true; update existing test comment to reflect the conditional nature.
Lock files: Recompiled 46 workflows. Workflows with copilot-requests: true now drop --exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN from the AWF command. Workflows using a PAT are unchanged.

Security rationale

${{ github.token }} in copilot-requests mode carries only the scoped permissions declared in the workflow — equivalent to what the agent already accesses via GitHub MCP tools. Long-lived PATs remain excluded as before.

# Before (all copilot workflows)
--exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN --exclude-env GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN ...

# After (copilot-requests: true workflows)
--exclude-env GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN ...   # COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN passed through

# After (PAT-based workflows — unchanged)
--exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN --exclude-env GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN ...

Changeset

Type: patch
Description: Fix copilot engine execution so workflows with features: copilot-requests: true no longer exclude COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN from the AWF container, while PAT-based tokens continue to be excluded.

Generated by Changeset Generator for issue #25479 · ◷

…ot-requests feature is enabled Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/github/gh-aw/sessions/1f3b047d-4ae8-4d35-8943-8a29aace3438 Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions · 2026-04-09T13:28:59Z

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📰 DEVELOPING STORY: Smoke Copilot reports failed. Our correspondents are investigating the incident...

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR fixes Copilot CLI startup failures in AWF-containerized runs when features: copilot-requests: true by ensuring COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN is available inside the container (it is set to ${{ github.token }} in that mode) while preserving the existing exclusion behavior for PAT-based workflows.

Changes:

Update Copilot engine AWF invocation to conditionally exclude COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN only when it contains a secret PAT (not when using ${{ github.token }} via copilot-requests).
Add/adjust unit tests asserting COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN exclusion behavior for both modes.
Regenerate workflow lock files so AWF command lines omit --exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN for workflows using copilot-requests.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/workflow/copilot_engine_execution.go	Conditionally excludes `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` from AWF only for PAT-based mode; keeps it in-container for `copilot-requests`.
pkg/workflow/gh_cli_mount_test.go	Adds test to ensure `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` is not excluded when `copilot-requests` is enabled; updates existing assertion text.
.github/workflows/test-quality-sentinel.lock.yml	Regenerated AWF command in lock output to drop `--exclude-env COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN` for `copilot-requests` workflows.
.github/workflows/smoke-update-cross-repo-pr.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/smoke-create-cross-repo-pr.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/security-review.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/refactoring-cadence.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/firewall-escape.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/draft-pr-cleanup.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/docs-noob-tester.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/discussion-task-miner.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/dictation-prompt.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/dev.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/dev-hawk.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/delight.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/dead-code-remover.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-workflow-updater.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-testify-uber-super-expert.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-syntax-error-quality.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-semgrep-scan.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-secrets-analysis.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-safe-output-integrator.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-repo-chronicle.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-news.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-mcp-concurrency-analysis.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-malicious-code-scan.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-file-diet.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-compiler-quality.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-cli-performance.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-assign-issue-to-user.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/daily-architecture-diagram.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/copilot-token-optimizer.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/copilot-token-audit.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/copilot-pr-prompt-analysis.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/copilot-pr-nlp-analysis.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/copilot-pr-merged-report.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/copilot-cli-deep-research.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/code-scanning-fixer.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/cli-consistency-checker.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/ci-coach.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/breaking-change-checker.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/brave.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/auto-triage-issues.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/artifacts-summary.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/architecture-guardian.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/archie.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/agent-performance-analyzer.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.
.github/workflows/craft.lock.yml	Same lock regeneration to reflect conditional exclusion behavior.

Copilot's findings

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Files reviewed: 48/48 changed files
Comments generated: 1

Copilot · 2026-04-09T13:33:09Z

+		// When copilot-requests feature is enabled, COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN is set to
+		// ${{ github.token }} — a scoped Actions token, not a long-lived secret. The
+		// Copilot CLI v1.0.20+ validates this token at startup before making API calls,
+		// so it must be present inside the AWF container. We therefore only add it to
+		// the exclude list when it holds a PAT (${{ secrets.COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}),
+		// where leakage would be higher risk.
+		var coreExcludeVarNames []string
+		if !useCopilotRequests {
+			coreExcludeVarNames = []string{"COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN"}


In copilot-requests mode, this change intentionally stops excluding COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN, which makes the scoped ${{ github.token }} readable inside the AWF container via env/printenv (and usable for direct API calls). If that exposure is acceptable, consider adding a brief note (either here or in the workflow docs) that workflows enabling copilot-requests should keep permissions: as least-privilege, since the token is now available to in-container shell tools as well as the Copilot CLI.

github-actions · 2026-04-09T13:40:29Z

Commit pushed: 8850b2a

Generated by Changeset Generator

fix: don't exclude COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN from AWF container when copil…

00be4f0

…ot-requests feature is enabled Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/github/gh-aw/sessions/1f3b047d-4ae8-4d35-8943-8a29aace3438 Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and pelikhan Apr 9, 2026

pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review April 9, 2026 13:27

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 9, 2026 13:27

pelikhan added the smoke label Apr 9, 2026

Copilot created this pull request from a session on behalf of pelikhan April 9, 2026 13:28 View session

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fix: don't exclude COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN from AWF container when copilot-requests feature is enabled#25479

fix: don't exclude COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN from AWF container when copilot-requests feature is enabled#25479
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