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vscode-copilot-chat
TypeScript2025–2026
microsoft / vscode-copilot-chat · Archived

vscode-copilot-chat

Copilot Chat extension for VS Code

Developer ToolsCommunication & Social
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
7Distinct people
8Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
9.9KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Copilot Chat extension for VS Code

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month8 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2025-06-27 11:06:43 UTC to 2026-05-05 20:39:55 UTC.

0123452025-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 1 submissions, 4 commentsJun 20252025-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2025-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2025-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2025-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsNov 20252025-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-03-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-04-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsMay 2026

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
Jun 20252025-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-07-01 00:00:00 UTC514
Jul 20252025-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-08-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Aug 20252025-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-09-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 20252025-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20252025-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-11-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Nov 20252025-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-12-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Dec 20252025-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jan 20262026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-02-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Feb 20262026-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-03-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Mar 20262026-03-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-04-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Apr 20262026-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-05-01 00:00:00 UTC000
May 20262026-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-06-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

8 sources
simonw·Jul 1, 2025
I'm not sure how you ended up on that page... my comment above links to https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/27/context-engineering/ The "Read large enough context to ensure you get what you need" quote is from a different post entirely, this one: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/30/vscode-copilot-chat/ That's part of the system prompts used by the GitHub Copilot Chat extension for VS Code - from this line: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/40d039... The full line is: When using the {ToolName.ReadFile} tool, prefer reading a large section over calling the {ToolName.ReadFile} tool many times in sequence. You can also think of all the pieces you may be interested in and read them in parallel. Read large enough context to ensure you get what you need. That's a hint to the tool-calling LLM that it should attempt
Read the rest
to guess which area of the file is most likely to include the code that it needs to review. It makes more sense if you look at the definition of the ReadFile tool: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/40d039... description: 'Read the contents of a file. Line numbers are 1-indexed. This tool will truncate its output at 2000 lines and may be called repeatedly with offset and limit parameters to read larger files in chunks.' The tool takes three arguments: filePath, offset and limit.
In The new skill in AI is not prompting, it's context engineering
simonw·Jun 30, 2025
"Relevant content to your LLM when asking a question" is last year's RAG. If you look at how sophisticated current LLM systems work there is so much more to this. Just one example: Microsoft open sourced VS Code Copilot Chat today (MIT license). Their prompts are dynamically assembled with tool instructions for various tools based on whether or not they are enabled: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/v0.29.... And the autocomplete stuff has a wealth of contextual information included: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/v0.29.... You have access to the following information to help you make informed suggestions: - recently_viewed_code_snippets: These are code snippets that the developer has recently looked at, which might provide context or examples relevant to the current task. They are l
Read the rest
isted from oldest to newest, with line numbers in the form #| to help you understand the edit diff history. It's possible these are entirely irrelevant to the developer's change. - current_file_content: The content of the file the developer is currently working on, providing the broader context of the code. Line numbers in the form #| are included to help you understand the edit diff history. - edit_diff_history: A record of changes made to the code, helping you understand the evolution of the code and the developer's intentions. These changes are listed from oldest to latest. It's possible a lot of old edit diff history is entirely irrelevant to the developer's change. - area_around_code_to_edit: The context showing the code surrounding the section to be edited. - cursor position marked as ${CURSOR_TAG}: Indicates where the developer's cursor is currently located, which can be crucial for understanding what part of the code they are focusing on.
In The new skill in AI is not prompting, it's context engineering
dataviz1000·Jun 27, 2025
I very much need to know this also. First, tools [0] and prompts [1]. I'll get back to you in a minute while I back trace the calling path. One thing to note is that they use .tsx for rendering the prompts and tool responses. 1. User selects ask or edit and AskAgentIntent.handleRequest or EditAgentIntent.handleRequest is called on character return. 2. DefaultIntentRequestHandler.getResult() -> createInstance(AskAgentIntentInvocation) -> getResult -> intent.invoke -> runWithToolCalling(intentInvocation) -> createInstance(DefaultToolCallingLoop) -> loop.onDidReceiveResponse -> emit _onDidReceiveResponse -> loop.run(this.stream, pauseCtrl) -> runOne() -> getAvailableTools -> createPromptContext -> buildPrompt2 -> buildPrompt -> [somewhere in here the correct tool gets called] -> responseProcessor.processResponse -> doProcessResponse -> apply
Read the rest
Delta -> [0] https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/main/s... [1] https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-copilot-chat/blob/main/s... [2] src/extension/intents/node/toolCallingLoop.ts
In Copilot Chat in VS Code is now open source

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