How long does remote workspace indexing take? Does it work?

[altjx]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

I recently tried to enable remote workspace indexing in VS Code using Github Copilot Chat; however, I have yet to get this to work once. I'm a GitHub Enterprise user, FYI.

When I toggle remote workspace indexing, it gets stuck in the "Building remote workspace index" but never progresses. No progress bars, errors, or anything to indicate something is or isn't working. This is what it's looked like for more than 8 hours:

The remote repository is about 2.5GB, but I would think that shouldn't cause it to take as long as it has.

Using the latest version of VS Code, along with Github Copilot Chat. I've tried the pre-release version of the extension and the Insiders version of VS Code, but I'm unable to make any progress with remote indexing and am just unsure how to resolve it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT (02/13/25): I was pointed to this Github issue to report this problem.

[wysiecki]

same question, my project is really small, and it is still building, can i reset this ? restart does not help.

[jackofsometrade]

Same, my project is less than 200 files (all less than 200 lines of code) and it's been running for over an hour. I think the Copilot team was overly optimistic about releasing this feature.

[stevenbaker]

When It Works, It's Great ...

If we build a remote workspace index, and then wait for it to finish, it seems to work very well. "workspace" queries are awesome after it's done. It's an incredibly promising feature, but we are scratching our heads here with a few questions.

The documentation (link) suggests:

Once the remote index has been built, GitHub automatically keeps it up-to-date whenever you push code changes. You only need to run the Build remote workspace index command once per repository.

But Does It Work?

Our questions:

1. Is the remote workspace index built once per repository, per developer? Or is it shared across the entire team?
2. If they are shared, how can a developer know if their team already created a remote workspace index for a repo?
3. Is there a UI within GitHub.com to manage these or get even a basic confirmation that one exists for a repo?
4. If GitHub automatically keeps it up-to-date (per the docs), why does the spinner run for a very long time the second time you do it?

Behind the Scenes 🕵️

Trying to answer these questions on my own, I set up Charles Proxy to take a look at the traffic that occurs when you build one in VS Code. Screenshot below reveals the endpoint that the IDE is hitting behind the scenes:

https://api.github.com/repos/<org>/<repo>/copilot_internal/embeddings_index

Unfortunately, since this is an internal endpoint, it's not documented within the API reference. All of the JSON elements in the response are showing "true" or "ok" which would suggest that the index is ready to go? Yet we still get a spinner in VS Code.

Hoping the VS Code + Copilot team can help shed some light on this and open up the black box a bit! It's such a nice feature, but needs a bit more UI around it to instill confidence.

[blackmammoth]

Same here. It just spins with no success/error messages.

[anhvth]

same here, is there an option to just turn it off, it slowdown the computer

[reathh]

Same here. spinning for a couple of days now.

Repo is 120MB

[antonius-dev]

I created a new repository with one file, reinstalled VS Code on my local machine, and reinstalled the VS Code server on my remote machine. However, it is still displaying

“Building remote workspace index”

indefinitely. This issue started two days ago. I tried downgrading and even using VS Code Insider, and I reauthorized and revoked all tokens.

bwt this is my diagnostic output

diagnostic output

## Copilot

- Version: 1.267.1367
- Build: nightly
- Editor: vscode/1.98.0-insider

## Environment

- http_proxy: n/a
- https_proxy: n/a
- no_proxy: n/a
- SSL_CERT_FILE: /usr/lib/ssl/cert.pem
- SSL_CERT_DIR: /usr/lib/ssl/certs
- OPENSSL_CONF: n/a

## Feature Flags

- Send Restricted Telemetry: disabled
- Chat: enabled
- Content exclusion: unavailable

## Node setup

- Number of root certificates: 147
- Operating system: Linux
- Operating system version: 6.8.0-53-generic
- Operating system architecture: x64
- NODE_OPTIONS: n/a
- NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS: n/a
- NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED: n/a
- tls default min version: TLSv1.2
- tls default max version: TLSv1.3

## Network Configuration

- Proxy host: n/a
- Proxy port: n/a
- Kerberos SPN: n/a
- Reject unauthorized: disabled
- Fetcher: HelixFetcher

## Reachability

- github.com: HTTP 200
- api.github.com: HTTP 200
- proxy.individual.githubcopilot.com: HTTP 200
- api.individual.githubcopilot.com: HTTP 200
- telemetry.individual.githubcopilot.com: HTTP 200

## VS Code Configuration

- HTTP proxy: 
- HTTP proxy authentication: n/a
- Proxy Strict SSL: true
- Extension HTTP proxy support: override

## Extensions

- Is `win-ca` installed?: false
- Is `mac-ca` installed?: false

## Authentication

- GitHub username: antonius-dev

[Jay-sanjay]

Me as well facing same issue !

“Building remote workspace index”

[rsilva48]

Same issue here also my network has restrictions to githubusercontent.com, I don't know if this affects the remote workspace index. How do I enable the Local index, instead of the remote one?

[Vaporjawn]

I tried building a workspace with just one file and am getting the same issue

Building remote workspace index...

[nbros]

My "Building remote workspace index" has been going for days. I feel like it is completely broken currently.
Maybe they have a queue of millions of repos to index and that will take them months to get through... I don't know

[theswiftbear]

same here,never seen it working

[ExRazor]

Looks like it's not working. Everytime I'm opening my repo, I always Building the index. It's been a few days, but the remote workspace is never getting indexed.

"Building remote workspace index" indefinitely

[atzufuki]

For me the indexing worked out, but using the index with @workspace does not. I get this warning. (Using Insiders and pre-release of Github Copilot Chat)

Searching remote workspace index timed out, falling back to basic workspace search. Response may be less accurate.

[cox-michael]

It's been 5 days since the first post. Mine's been running for a couple of days. Did anyone's ever complete successfully?

[atzufuki]

The indexing completed for me in 5 minutes for a small codebase.

[bartlebee13]

I've also had mine running on and off the last few days - has anyone else found that the copilot auto suggestions are worse while this is running?

[mikehern]

Same issue. Barebones web app:

[cox-michael]

Maybe it's the type of repo? Has anyone had success with any of these?

• Personal private
• Personal public
• Organization private
• Organization public

I've only tried with org private, but maybe that's the issue...

[wysiecki]

it worked before on the same repos i'm using today, so...

[antonius-dev]

it worked before on the same repos i'm using today, so...

It worked for all my repositories while I was on the free Pro trial. However, after I was charged $10, it stopped working.

[wysiecki]

suddenly it stopped indexing after last reload, just not sure, if it is fixed, or just stopped.

[rsilva48]

Same for me, finally finished building after last update, I saw how the remaining items decreased until 0

[cox-michael]

Remaining items? Mine has no such indication. Mine looks exactly like the OP's.

[cox-michael]

Ah, I see. It's now working in Insiders, but not standard.

[cox-michael]

Update to the latest version of Insiders and it should be working!

[riyoua]

3 hours has past and I'm still getting building remote workspace index... vscode version 1.97.2 (Universal) for Mac , my repository is private - could that be the problem ?

[riyoua]

update :
After a few hours of sleep, I reopened my laptop and saw that the workspace indexing had finally completed.

[guillaumehcht]

Same thing here, building remote workspace index has been running for a day without doing anything lmao

[iuriisusukn26]

+1

[HarisM26]

+1

[laurentpayot]

@riyoua Working for me for VS Code version 1.98.0-insider (on Ubuntu 24.10).

[riyoua]

Came back after a few hours of sleep, reopened my laptop, and the workspace indexing was finally done

[Petercopter]

1.98.2 (Universal)

Guess what I'm doing!

Building remote workspace index...

Updating local workspace index...

🙄

[jackofsometrade]

Same here, both functions run indefinitely. The only way to cancel them is to restart the IDE. I've waited over an hour for local to finish on a small project. The feature is broken.

[github-actions[bot]]

💬 Your Product Feedback Has Been Submitted 🎉

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us! Your feedback is invaluable as we build a better GitHub experience for all our users.

Here's what you can expect moving forward ⏩

• Your input will be carefully reviewed and cataloged by members of our product teams. 
  • Due to the high volume of submissions, we may not always be able to provide individual responses.
  • Rest assured, your feedback will help chart our course for product improvements.
• Other users may engage with your post, sharing their own perspectives or experiences. 
• GitHub staff may reach out for further clarification or insight. 
  • We may 'Answer' your discussion if there is a current solution, workaround, or roadmap/changelog post related to the feedback.

Where to look to see what's shipping 👀

• Read the Changelog for real-time updates on the latest GitHub features, enhancements, and calls for feedback.
• Explore our Product Roadmap, which details upcoming major releases and initiatives.

What you can do in the meantime 💻

• Upvote and comment on other user feedback Discussions that resonate with you.
• Add more information at any point! Useful details include: use cases, relevant labels, desired outcomes, and any accompanying screenshots.

As a member of the GitHub community, your participation is essential. While we can't promise that every suggestion will be implemented, we want to emphasize that your feedback is instrumental in guiding our decisions and priorities.

Thank you once again for your contribution to making GitHub even better! We're grateful for your ongoing support and collaboration in shaping the future of our platform. ⭐

[igorgermanVTG]

I have repo in gerrit and clone of this repo in github
is there a way to work with the gerrit repo and connect the indexing samehow to the github clone for indexing
it updating everyday

[rugabunda]

Same problem. actually just sits there saying checking status indefinitely. trying to build local instead, not sure if that works or what; copilot does not seem to offer a choice to use a local version

[rugabunda]

I see it did work building locally, archived via workspace-chunks.db in a subdirectory of %APPDATA%\Code\User\workspaceStorage\

[movy]

Something is really wrong with this, at least when using Copilot with VSCode remote (i.e. via SSH) with local workspace.

My workspace is large, but I limited number of files via vscode://settings/files.exclude to about 50 files, and I can confirm the exclusions work (files are not shown in workspace explorer or via Open commad), yet Copilot keeps showing ~800 files to index for many weeks

I located workspace-chunks.db, they're quite massive, and look like are being updated:

I asked Copilot to list workspace files (as there seem to be no other way to see that index), and that list includes excluded dirs/files (even .env!!) as well as some long-gone dirs and even some stuff that was never part of the workspace (like external log dir that I access often, but it's not even inside the workspace dir), but most importantly, the list does NOT include lots of actually needed files that are inside the workspace.

I tried uninstalling Copilot extension, restarting remote vscode server -- no luck. Anything else can be tried to save my Copilot from imploding?