Github Copilot stopped having access to open files in VSCode

[sylque]

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Since yesterday, GitHub Copilot chat has started responding with messages like:

I don't have access to your local files or active selection. Could you please paste the relevant parts of your script here?

or similar prompts.

Additionally, I'm unable to edit files through Copilot chat either.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

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[p0tat0]

I've seen happen when the chat window switched by itself from Agent back to Ask mode. I don't what triggers that switch but it had happened a few times for me.

[Fail-Safe]

I'm running into a similar issue since yesterday. Copilot Chat Agent mode stopped working for me in VSCode. If I switch to 'Ask' it will respond. Flip it back to 'Agent' and it won't respond to any prompting.

[Fail-Safe]

@sylque Which model are you trying to use? I just switched my Agent mode to GPT-4o from GPT-4.1 and Agent mode is now working for me again.

[fozagtx]

Same thing happened to me but i think, its due to some little traffic going through the llms server

[madebyabder]

Yeah, I ran into this too recently .pretty annoying when you’re used to having copilot edit directly. try to signout of github in vscode and login again

[sylque]

My issue is now resolved.

Here’s a quick summary for anyone who lands here with the same problem:

1. Two days ago, Copilot suddenly lost access to open files in VSCode.
2. This affected all available models.
3. The issue occurred in both Ask and Edit modes. However, based on this thread, I tried Agent mode (which I hadn't used before) and found that the issue did not occur there.
4. I didn't try to sign out and log in again.
5. Last night, a Copilot plugin update was released, and after installing it, everything started working perfectly again.