Copilot agent remains blocked after branch-creation safety check was resolved

[jesperfeil22]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot in GitHub

Body

I’m using a Copilot cloud agent session on GitHub. It has five uncommitted files with changes I want to preserve and submit as a pull request.

The command:
git switch -c fix/issue-61-draft-ui && git status --short --branch

was rejected with:
“The user rejected this tool call. User feedback: Permission could not be granted automatically. Do not retry, rephrase, repackage, or bypass this effect. Continue only with genuinely independent work or a materially safer action that does not reproduce the denied effect. If required work remains blocked, report it blocked. Assisted approval reason: Current HEAD is unverified; the new branch may not originate from updated main.”

Subsequent read-only checks confirmed that local HEAD, origin/main and GitHub’s current main all point to the same full commit SHA.

The agent still reports that it cannot retry because of the original rejection. No branch, commit, push or PR has been created. The working files are preserved, and 60 targeted tests pass.

GitHub Support closed my ticket and directed me to Community Discussions.

Is there a supported way to request a fresh approval after resolving the stated concern, while preserving the existing work? I am not looking to bypass the approval mechanism.

Please let me know which session details or redacted logs would help diagnose this.

Thanks

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[kaluarachchiteshan]

Hi,

I'm not aware of a documented "re-approve" button for a denied tool call. The rejection message tells the agent not to retry in that session, and the agent usually keeps that instruction for the rest of the session. Here are ways to continue without bypassing the approval and without losing your work.

1. Preserve the work first

Before changing anything, make sure the five modified files can't be lost. If you can open a terminal for the session, save a patch:

git diff > ~/changes.patch
git status --short

If you can't access a shell, ask the agent to print or summarize the diff, or copy the file contents from the session's file view.

2. Start a fresh session and re-apply the changes

A new Copilot cloud agent session does not carry the old denial. Start one from the same repository on main, then either:

• give it the saved patch (git apply changes.patch), or
• point it at the issue (#61) and ask it to re-implement the change, using your files as reference.

Your 60 passing tests give you a quick way to confirm the result matches.

3. Create the branch and PR yourself

If you have a local clone and the patch, this is the fastest route and avoids the agent entirely:

git fetch origin
git switch -c fix/issue-61-draft-ui origin/main
git apply changes.patch
git add -A
git commit -m "Fix issue #61: draft UI"
git push -u origin fix/issue-61-draft-ui

Then open the pull request in the GitHub UI.

4. Give the agent the evidence in a new message, once

If you want to stay in the same session, you can reply with the verification (HEAD, origin/main and GitHub main share the same SHA) and ask it to re-request approval for a branch creation. If the agent says it must not retry, that is the guardrail working, and a new session is the supported way forward.

5. Report it as feedback

The message says "Current HEAD is unverified", although the read-only checks confirm HEAD matches main. That suggests the approval check could not see that verification, or has no path to re-evaluate after the situation changes. It is useful product feedback, so include in this thread:

• the exact rejection text (already posted)
• the order of events: command rejected, then read-only checks showing matching SHAs
• the session URL or ID, and the approximate time of the rejection
• whether the session was started from the web, VS Code or the CLI

Please redact any repository secrets or private paths from logs before posting.