sessions with sdk by joshspicer · Pull Request #295817 · microsoft/vscode

joshspicer · 2026-02-17T18:23:52Z

~~launch with code --sessions-utility-process~~

related https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-internalbacklog/issues/6848

Add @github/copilot-sdk 0.1.23 as a production dependency. The SDK ships per-platform native CLI binaries (@github/copilot-darwin-arm64, etc.) that require build system support: - .moduleignore: strip copilot prebuilds/ripgrep/clipboard for other platforms - gulpfile.vscode.ts: filter wrong-arch platform packages, ASAR-unpack binaries - darwin/create-universal-app.ts: copy missing arch package for universal merger - darwin/sign.ts: custom entitlements for the copilot CLI binary - darwin/verify-macho.ts: skip copilot binaries in arch verification - next/index.ts: add copilotSdkHost as a utility process entry point

Add 'sessions-sdk' to NativeParsedArgs and the OPTIONS descriptor so it can be passed on the command line (e.g. ./scripts/code.sh --sessions-sdk). Add isSessionsSdkWindow to IWorkbenchEnvironmentService so renderer code can check whether the SDK backend is active. Browser returns false; native reads from the window configuration.

Three-layer architecture for the Copilot SDK integration: 1. common/copilotSdkService.ts — ICopilotSdkService interface with session CRUD, messaging, events, model listing, and auth. All IPC types defined here so both main and renderer can reference them. 2. electron-main/copilotSdkStarter.ts — CopilotSdkMainService that lazily spawns a UtilityProcess on first use, connects via MessagePort, and exposes an IServerChannel. Follows the pty host pattern. 3. node/copilotSdkHost.ts — Utility process entry point that wraps the @github/copilot-sdk CopilotClient. Implements ICopilotSdkService so ProxyChannel.fromService() auto-generates the IPC channel. Resolves the bundled CLI binary, builds a clean env, and forwards all events.

Register CopilotSdkMainService and its IPC channel in the main process, gated behind args[sessions-sdk] so no utility process is spawned or DI service created during normal VS Code usage. - app.ts: conditional DI registration + channel setup + window open logic - chat.contribution.ts: register SdkChatViewPane when isSessionsSdkWindow - sessions.desktop.main.ts: import copilotSdkService renderer proxy

…-with-sdk

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 34 out of 35 changed files in this pull request and generated 14 comments.

src/vs/platform/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/sessions/browser/sessionsViewPane.ts

src/vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

build/darwin/create-universal-app.ts

package.json

src/vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/widget/sdkChatWidget.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/sessions/browser/sessionsViewPane.ts

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 34 out of 35 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

src/vs/sessions/contrib/sessions/browser/sessionsViewPane.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/widget/sdkContentPartRenderer.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/copilotSdkDebugPanel.ts

build/gulpfile.vscode.ts

build/darwin/create-universal-app.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/sessions/browser/sessionsViewPane.ts

joshspicer · 2026-02-17T22:58:29Z

Code Review — All Threads Addressed

All actionable feedback has been fixed. Resolving threads now.

✅ Fixed (16 threads)

_sdkListDisposables redundant _register → removed
CLI resolve fail continues silently → added throw
window.confirm() → IDialogService.confirm()
execSync unsafe → fs.cpSync({ recursive: true })
Markdown renderer results leak → WeakMap<HTMLElement, DisposableStore>
Bracket notation configuration['sessions-sdk'] → proper .isSessionsUtilityProcess
process.stderr.write never restored → _originalStderrWrite field + restore in stop()
Non-null assertion on _worktreePath → local variable capture
split('/') not cross-platform → _labelForPath() with paths.basename()
Singleton _instance not cleared → override dispose() clears it
Session event listeners leak → per-session DisposableStore
Delete without confirmation → dialogService.confirm()
Silent catch on session destroy → now logs via _onProcessOutput
Delete button accessibility → aria-label, type="button", keydown handler
ASAR unpack glob too broad → narrowed to copilot-*/copilot*
Session list role="list" + aria-selected → added
_relativeTime future dates → diffMs <= 0 guard
_ensureClient race condition → promise-based lock
Tool labels not localized → all use localize(...)
Debug panel strings not localized → all use localize(...)

🔇 Won't Fix / False Positive (5 threads)

SDK Node.js version: false positive, works fine
Timeout message mismatch: 30s matches 30000ms
allow-any-unicode-next-line: valid VS Code hygiene directive
autoRestart backoff: handled by SDK internally
Hardcoded model preferences: intentional experiment default
Folder history validation: low priority, paths from picker/SDK

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 34 out of 35 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

src/vs/platform/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts:398

_attachSessionEvents() unconditionally creates a new DisposableStore and overwrites _sessionDisposables for sessionId without disposing any existing store. If resumeSession() is called multiple times for the same session, this will leak listeners. Dispose the existing store (if any) before replacing it.

	private _attachSessionEvents(session: CopilotSession): void {
		const sessionId = session.sessionId;
		const store = new DisposableStore();
		const listener = session.on((event: SessionEvent) => {
			this._onSessionEvent.fire({
				sessionId,
				type: event.type as ICopilotSessionEvent['type'],
				data: (event as { data?: Record<string, unknown> }).data ?? {},
			});
		});
		store.add(typeof listener === 'function' ? toDisposable(listener) : listener);
		this._sessionDisposables.set(sessionId, store);
	}

src/vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/widget/sdkChatModel.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/widget/sdkChatWidget.ts

bpasero

I left some initial high level feedback for the areas I felt I can provide it and ignored changes to vs/sessions for now and also did not yet drill into the utility process specifics.

I want @deepak1556 to comment on the build changes, the entitlements and the platform specific modules. Is the SDK really built natively for different platforms? I was hoping for a JS library, but maybe that is not the case.

On a high level I feel the direction of mixing both the architectural change (to move to utility process) and introducing entire new UI components for chat (which are not compatible to the old UI) the wrong approach. I would like us to:

have 1 PR with the architectural change of a utility process and using SDK compatible with the old UI
have 1 PR with exploring to recreate the chat rendering UI on top of the architectural changes

src/vs/workbench/services/environment/browser/environmentService.ts

src/vs/workbench/services/environment/common/environmentService.ts

src/vs/workbench/services/environment/electron-browser/environmentService.ts

src/vs/workbench/common/contextkeys.ts

src/vs/workbench/browser/contextkeys.ts

src/vs/platform/windows/electron-main/windowsMainService.ts

src/vs/platform/copilotSdk/common/copilotSdkService.ts

src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 33 out of 36 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/widget/sdkChatWidget.ts

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 33 out of 36 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

src/vs/sessions/contrib/copilotSdk/browser/widget/sdkChatWidget.ts

src/vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

src/vs/sessions/contrib/sessions/browser/sessionsViewPane.ts

src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts

bpasero

Many unresolved Copilot code feedback comments and 1 comment from me.

bpasero · 2026-02-20T13:26:13Z

src/vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

+	server.registerChannel(CopilotSdkChannel, channel);
+	process.stderr.write(`[CopilotSdkHost] Channel '${CopilotSdkChannel}' registered on server\n`);
+
+	process.once('exit', () => {


Are we certain this works? At this moment the process is stopping and you are calling a long running operation?

…isposal guard

deepak1556

Sorry for the late review, the comments can be addressed as followup

deepak1556 · 2026-02-20T23:39:48Z

build/azure-pipelines/darwin/copilot-cli-entitlements.plist

+    <true/>
+    <key>com.apple.security.cs.allow-unsigned-executable-memory</key>
+    <true/>
+    <key>com.apple.security.automation.apple-events</key>


Is the apple events needed ?

% codesign -d --entitlements :- ~/Downloads/copilot Executable=/Users/demohan/Downloads/copilot warning: Specifying ':' in the path is deprecated and will not work in a future release <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "https://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"><plist version="1.0"><dict><key>com.apple.security.cs.allow-jit</key><true/><key>com.apple.security.cs.allow-unsigned-executable-memory</key><true/><key>com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation</key><true/></dict></plist>

For the other 3 the utility process is already signed with the same set https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/blob/main/build/azure-pipelines/darwin/helper-plugin-entitlements.plist , so copliot cli launched from the process should inherit it by default.

Tl:dr, if the apple events is not needed can we remove this entitlement file in favor inheritance.

deepak1556 · 2026-02-20T23:57:06Z

build/darwin/create-universal-app.ts

+		} else if (fs.existsSync(inArm64U) && !fs.existsSync(inX64U)) {
+			fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(inX64U), { recursive: true });
+			fs.cpSync(inArm64U, inX64U, { recursive: true });
+		}


Hmm can you remove the platform specific suffix and keep it as @github/copilot then we would just merge the binaries without having to do the above workaround.

deepak1556 · 2026-02-20T23:58:25Z

src/vs/platform/copilotSdk/electron-main/copilotSdkStarter.ts

+				type: 'copilotSdkHost',
+				name: 'copilot-sdk-host',
+				entryPoint: 'vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost',
+				args: ['--logsPath', this._environmentMainService.logsHome.with({ scheme: Schemas.file }).fsPath, '--disable-gpu'],


why --disable-gpu ?

deepak1556 · 2026-02-21T00:00:59Z

src/vs/sessions/services/copilotSdk/node/copilotSdkHost.ts

+		delete cliEnv['__CFBundleIdentifier'];
+		delete cliEnv['APP_SANDBOX_CONTAINER_ID'];


APP_SANDBOX_CONTAINER_ID is for apps from mac app store relying on the mac container sandbox, which our app doesn't, can be removed

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 17, 2026 18:23

joshspicer changed the title ~~Josh/sessions with sdk~~ sessions with sdk Feb 17, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of joshspicer February 17, 2026 18:24 View session

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joshspicer added 8 commits February 17, 2026 11:07

copilot-sdk: add SDK chat widget and session list UI

abce2c0

Align sessions utility process naming

ca9154d

Adopt sessions utility process flag

91c48fa

Merge branch 'main' of github.com:microsoft/vscode into josh/sessions…

9644090

…-with-sdk

joshspicer force-pushed the josh/sessions-with-sdk branch from fc19eff to 9644090 Compare February 17, 2026 19:45

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joshspicer added 2 commits February 17, 2026 14:32

code review

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fix fs usage

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Merge branch 'main' into josh/sessions-with-sdk

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joshspicer added 2 commits February 17, 2026 17:20

implement auto generation from copiot sdk d.ts and layer of abstraction

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resolve code review

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Merge branch 'main' into josh/sessions-with-sdk

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bpasero added 6 commits February 20, 2026 12:34

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leaks

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bpasero and others added 5 commits February 20, 2026 15:25

teardown on exit or crash

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fix: SDK host race condition, timer leak, exception cleanup, widget d…

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…isposal guard

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austindyoung mentioned this pull request Feb 26, 2026

[mirror] microsoft/vscode#295817 sessions with sdk austindyoung/vscode-driftfence-mirror-fork#152

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rzhao271 modified the milestones: February 2026, March 2026 Feb 27, 2026

roblourens added a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 3, 2026

Copy some build script changes from #295817

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joshspicer closed this Mar 3, 2026

		delete cliEnv['__CFBundleIdentifier'];
		delete cliEnv['APP_SANDBOX_CONTAINER_ID'];

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Code Review — All Threads Addressed

✅ Fixed (16 threads)

🔇 Won't Fix / False Positive (5 threads)

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