Save and Resume Copilot Chat Sessions

[msromike]

Type: Feature Request

Problem:
Copilot Chat conversations are lost when VS Code is closed or restarted. For complex, multi-session development work spanning days or requiring system restarts, users must re-explain context from scratch, wasting time and tokens.

Proposed Solution:
Add ability to save and resume chat sessions, similar to Gemini CLI's session management:

Save current conversation state (full message history, context, file references)
Resume saved sessions after restart
Optional: Auto-save on close with prompt to resume on next launch
Current Workarounds (Insufficient):

/memories/ - Requires manual summarization, doesn't preserve conversation flow
/memories/session/ - Wiped on restart
Manual copy-paste - Loss of rich context (file links, tool outputs)

Use Cases:
Multi-day feature development
System restarts during long debugging sessions
Switching between projects without losing progress
Pausing complex work to address urgent issues
Restarting VSC to elevated permissions context

Expected Behavior:
User can checkpoint conversation at any point and restore full context later, maintaining continuity across sessions.

VS Code version: Code 1.115.0 (41dd792, 2026-04-07T22:04:57Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200
Modes:

[roblourens]

How is this different exactly from what we do today? You can quit vscode, reopen, resume your past sessions from the list, etc

[msromike]

I might be using it incorrectly, but it seems to capture the previous sessions at breakpoints of it's choosing. I just reloaded and 45 mins of context was not captured when I did the reload from "Sessions." If it is a knowledge gap on my part, it wouldn't be the first time.