Spawn error in VS Code - Git Hub Copilot Chat extension

[KarunBussari]

My VS code version is below:

Version: 1.109.3 (system setup)
Commit: b6a47e9
Date: 2026-02-12T17:54:48.470Z
Electron: 39.3.0
ElectronBuildId: 13168319
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

My Copilot version is below:

• Copilot Chat Extension Version: Identifier - github.copilot-chat, Version: 0.37.6
• OS Version: Windows 11
• Feature (e.g. agent/edit/ask mode): Agent
• Selected model (e.g. GPT 4.1, Claude 3.7 Sonnet): GPT 4o (error in all models)

I am receiving below error in Chat interface: spawn UNKNOWN (at tsx element zNe > nBe > n > Hrt > XZ)

This error in Terminal:
2026-02-16 12:25:00.290 [error] Error: spawn UNKNOWN
at O$s (vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/b6a47e94e3/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:580:15383)
at vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/b6a47e94e3/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:4207:9644
at async vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/b6a47e94e3/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:4207:7916

Steps to Reproduce:

1.New Chat
2.Any input of text and enter

Please help look into this

[roblourens]

Can you a stacktrace in the Copilot Chat output channel? Do you have any hooks enabled?

[KarunBussari]

In the GitHub Copilot Output Channel window:

2026-02-16 18:35:49.370 [error] Error: spawn UNKNOWN
at O$s (vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/b6a47e94e3/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:580:15383)
at vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/b6a47e94e3/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:4207:9644
at async vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/b6a47e94e3/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:4207:7916

[KarunBussari]

Cleared the cache files, still receiving the same spawn error.

%APPDATA%\Code\Cache
%APPDATA%\Code\CachedData

The .git/hooks folder only contains default .sample template files.

detailed logs when I restarted VS code, I see an authentication error, highlighted below, can you please help look into this?

2026-02-17 10:19:28.228 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Initializing Git extension service.
2026-02-17 10:19:28.304 [info] ConversationFeature: Waiting for copilot token to activate conversation feature
2026-02-17 10:19:28.311 [info] Creating node-pty shim: source=c:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\c3a26841a8\resources\app\node_modules\node-pty\build\Release, dest=c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\node_modules@github\copilot\sdk\prebuilds\win32-x64
2026-02-17 10:19:28.311 [info] Creating ripgrep shim: source=c:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\c3a26841a8\resources\app\node_modules@vscode\ripgrep\bin, dest=c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\node_modules@github\copilot\sdk\ripgrep\bin\win32-x64
2026-02-17 10:19:28.451 [info] Found 1 entries to copy: rg.exe
2026-02-17 10:19:28.451 [info] Found 3 entries to copy: conpty, conpty.node, conpty_console_list.node
2026-02-17 10:19:28.466 [info] [CopilotCLI] MCP server started. Lock file: C:\Users\v-kabussari.copilot\ide\c55efca5-bfe4-4695-8d91-47a7cc748bff.lock
2026-02-17 10:19:28.466 [info] [CopilotCLI] Server URI: pipe:%5C%5C.%5Cpipe%5Cmcp-9dcfa49e-da68-4a80-9390-249dcedf017d.sock#%2Fmcp
2026-02-17 10:19:28.797 [info] Using the Electron fetcher.
2026-02-17 10:19:34.231 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Successfully activated the vscode.git extension.
2026-02-17 10:19:34.231 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Enablement state of the vscode.git extension: true.
2026-02-17 10:19:34.231 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Successfully registered Git commit message provider.
2026-02-17 10:19:34.292 [info] Logged in as KarunBussari
2026-02-17 10:19:34.938 [error] [GitHubAPI] GET https://api.github.com/teams/1682102/memberships/KarunBussari - Status: 404
2026-02-17 10:19:34.939 [info] Got Copilot token for KarunBussari
2026-02-17 10:19:34.939 [info] Copilot Chat: 0.37.6, VS Code: 1.109.4
2026-02-17 10:19:34.956 [info] [context keys] Setting context key: github.copilot-chat.activated
2026-02-17 10:19:34.958 [info] activationBlocker from 'languageModelAccess' took for 6698ms
2026-02-17 10:19:35.384 [info] Fetched model metadata in 7103ms 59820035-203f-46d9-9acf-0dea726fb91f
2026-02-17 10:19:35.469 [info] Latest entry: ccreq:latest.copilotmd
2026-02-17 10:19:35.470 [info] ccreq:46961d2e.copilotmd | markdown
2026-02-17 10:19:35.861 [info] AuthenticationService: firing onDidAuthenticationChange from handleAuthChangeEvent. Has token: true
2026-02-17 10:19:35.862 [info] copilot token sku: copilot_enterprise_seat_quota
2026-02-17 10:19:35.862 [info] ConversationFeature: Activating contributions
2026-02-17 10:19:35.862 [info] GitHub.vscode-pull-request-github extension is not yet activated.
2026-02-17 10:19:35.876 [info] Registering default platform agent...
2026-02-17 10:19:35.877 [info] ConversationFeature: onDidAuthenticationChange has token: true
2026-02-17 10:19:35.877 [info] [code-referencing] Public code references are enabled.
2026-02-17 10:19:35.883 [info] activationBlocker from 'conversationFeature' took for 7627ms
2026-02-17 10:19:35.889 [info] GithubAvailableEmbeddingTypesManager: Got embeddings. Primary: metis-1024-I16-Binary. Deprecated:
2026-02-17 10:19:35.895 [info] WorkspaceChunkSearchService: using embedding type metis-1024-I16-Binary
2026-02-17 10:19:35.925 [info] BYOK: Copilot Chat known models list fetched successfully.
2026-02-17 10:19:35.990 [info] Fetched model metadata in 129ms 981766af-1f9a-471f-83a7-a0e7c4746cd8
2026-02-17 10:19:35.992 [info] ccreq:4f72de58.copilotmd | markdown
2026-02-17 10:19:36.017 [info] Logged in as KarunBussari
2026-02-17 10:19:36.199 [error] Error: No authentication token available
at zL.getOrgCustomInstructions (c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\dist\extension.js:1523:8848)
at async gG.pollInstructions (c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\dist\extension.js:1228:1174)
at async c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\dist\extension.js:1223:22307
2026-02-17 10:19:36.200 [error] [GitHubOrgCustomAgentProvider] Error polling for agents: PermissiveAuthRequiredError: Permissive authentication is required
2026-02-17 10:19:36.334 [info] Fetched content exclusion rules in 445ms
2026-02-17 10:19:36.563 [error] [GitHubAPI] GET https://api.github.com/teams/1682102/memberships/KarunBussari - Status: 404
2026-02-17 10:19:36.566 [info] Got Copilot token for KarunBussari
2026-02-17 10:19:36.566 [info] Copilot Chat: 0.37.6, VS Code: 1.109.4
2026-02-17 10:19:36.667 [error] PermissiveAuthRequiredError: Permissive authentication is required
at zL.getCopilotAgentModels (c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\dist\extension.js:1523:10091)
at async Promise.allSettled (index 1)
at async Yy.provideChatSessionProviderOptions (c:\Users\v-kabussari.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.37.6\dist\extension.js:2261:10478)
at async iS.$provideChatSessionProviderOptions (file:///c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/c3a26841a8/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:144:68570)
2026-02-17 10:19:36.671 [info] AuthenticationService: firing onDidAuthenticationChange from handleAuthChangeEvent. Has token: true
2026-02-17 10:19:36.671 [info] copilot token sku: copilot_enterprise_seat_quota
2026-02-17 10:19:36.671 [info] ConversationFeature: onDidAuthenticationChange has token: true
2026-02-17 10:19:36.672 [info] [code-referencing] Public code references are enabled.
2026-02-17 10:19:36.743 [warning] Error scanning for local agents in c:\Users\v-kabussari\source\repos\CFS-SAPPLT-SAPLTE-QOS: Error: spawn UNKNOWN
2026-02-17 10:19:36.774 [info] Fetched model metadata in 105ms 1c8be336-6b8b-44c5-8673-8c8bee4501c6
2026-02-17 10:19:36.776 [info] ccreq:417f7b6e.copilotmd | markdown

[roblourens]

Error scanning for local agents in c:\Users\v-kabussari\source\repos\CFS-SAPPLT-SAPLTE-QOS: Error: spawn UNKNOWN

Does this mean anything to you @joshspicer?

[joshspicer]

Interesting, i'm not sure how that error would be generated from this try block (and it should be caught, so i'm not sure how it's ending up as an error in chat)

https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/b879fbf6cbf00ae8d9566f539014827617b70383/src/extension/chatSessions/vscode-node/copilotCloudSessionsProvider.ts#L615-L642

PermissiveAuthRequiredError: Permissive authentication is required

Signing out and into GitHub again should clear this.

[KarunBussari]

Signed out and signed back in, but I’m still seeing the same error message.
A few observations:

The issue occurs only in Agent mode; Ask mode works fine.
If I open a new window without attaching any repo or files, Agent mode works.
The issue starts as soon as I attach any file and prompt the agent for analysis

2026-02-17 21:41:02.523 [warning] Error scanning for local agents in c:\Users\v-kabussari\Downloads\Samples: Error: spawn UNKNOWN
2026-02-17 21:41:09.140 [error] Error: spawn UNKNOWN
at O$s (vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/c3a26841a8/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:580:15383)
at vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/c3a26841a8/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:4207:9644
at async vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/c3a26841a8/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:4207:7916

[roblourens]

From the stack I think the problem is spawning ripgrep. Does search work (in the sidebar, across the whole folder, or ctrl+P to search by file name) at all?

[KarunBussari]

side bar shows this error when I search the existing file

ctrl+p search seems fine, able to search recently opened files. Please let me know for anymore details

[rcarmo]

I am also facing this issue in a restricted environment. Upgrading to the latest versions completely broke the extension in Agent mode, and somehow we can't go back to anything older than a week, so it's unusable

[KarunBussari]

@roblourens any troubleshooting steps you recommend resolving this issue?

[KarunBussari]

when I try to update the extension:

Learn more takes me to: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/configure/extensions/extension-marketplace#_the-extension-signature-cannot-be-verified-by-vs-code