Desktop app (Windows): enabling remote control fails with "Failed to set up remote session" — log shows "No authentication token available; remote export disabled" #4954

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1. github-actions

   added

   triage

   on Sep 23, 2026
2. Nazgugu commented on Sep 25, 2026

   

   Nazgugu

   on Sep 25, 2026

   More actions

   Root cause found, with a minimal reproduction. This also happens on macOS, not only Windows.

   Environment: GitHub Copilot app 1.1.23 (macOS arm64) with its bundled CLI 1.0.87-0. Also reproduced with the standalone CLI builds 1.0.88 and 1.0.89-3.

   Summary: session.remote.enable fails for a session whose working directory is a GitHub repository whenever the session has a session-level GitHub credential (gitHubTokenProvider, or a session gitHubToken). The desktop app authenticates its sessions with a per-session token provider (its process logs reference GitHub token provider registration "<uuid>"), so remote control can never be enabled for repository-backed project sessions. General chats can still be exported read-only because their working directory is not a repository, and that path does use the session credential.

   Reproduction, using the SDK bundled in the app (/Applications/GitHub Copilot.app/Contents/Resources/copilot-sdk) and the app's own CLI binary, with GH_TOKEN set in the environment:

   import { CopilotClient, RuntimeConnection } from "/Applications/GitHub Copilot.app/Contents/Resources/copilot-sdk/index.js";
   
   const client = new CopilotClient({
     connection: RuntimeConnection.forStdio({
       path: `${process.env.HOME}/Library/Caches/github-copilot-sdk/cli/1.0.87-0/copilot`,
       args: ["--no-auto-update", "--log-level", "debug"],
     }),
   });
   await client.start();
   const session = await client.createSession({
     workingDirectory: process.argv[2], // a clone of any GitHub repository
     onPermissionRequest: () => ({ kind: "reject" }),
     // Remove this callback and remote.enable succeeds:
     gitHubTokenProvider: () => ({ kind: "token", accessToken: process.env.GH_TOKEN, tokenType: "bearer", expiresIn: 28800 }),
   });
   try {
     console.log(await session.rpc.remote.enable({ mode: "export" }));
   } catch (e) {
     console.log("remote.enable failed:", e.message);
   }
   await session.disconnect();
   await client.stop();

   Session credential	Working directory	remote.enable
   none (process-level GH_TOKEN only)	GitHub repository	✅ https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/tasks/<id>
   gitHubTokenProvider	GitHub repository	❌ Failed to set up remote session. Ensure the working directory is a GitHub repository and you are authenticated.
   session gitHubToken	GitHub repository	❌ same error
   gitHubTokenProvider	not a repository	✅ read-only, https://github.com/copilot/tasks/<id>

   The remote URL form makes no difference: https://github.com/..., ssh://git@github.com/... and git@github.com:... fail the same way. Everything else (binary, environment, process working directory, account, repository) was identical between the passing and failing runs.

   Log evidence (--log-level debug). The passing and failing runs differ only in these lines:

   - [DEBUG] Set auth info on session <id>
   + [DEBUG] Set auth context on session <id>
   + [WARNING] [rust:remote::shared_api] No authentication token available; remote export disabled

   The provider callback is invoked once, at session creation (reason: "initial", host: "https://github.com"), and is not called again during remote.enable. In the CLI's app.js, the session.create handler calls authManager.applySessionAuthContext(...) when the session has a credential registration and applySessionCredentials(...) otherwise. The native remote exporter's repository path appears to read only the credential set by the latter, so it finds no token. The non-repository path does use the session's credential.

   Signing in to the standalone CLI (copilot login), restarting the app, and pushing or re-tracking the branch do not help, because the failing lookup never consults those credentials.
3. copilot-cli-bot commented on Oct 6, 2026

   

   copilot-cli-botbot

   on Oct 6, 2026

   More actions

   This appears to be resolved as of GitHub Copilot CLI v1.0.92. Please update to that release or a newer stable version. We're closing this as completed. If it still happens, please comment with your version and reproduction steps.
4. copilot-cli-bot

   closed this as completedon Oct 6, 2026
5. github-actions

   removed

   triage

   on Oct 6, 2026