| title | Managing agent sessions | |||||||||
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| shortTitle | Manage agent sessions | |||||||||
| intro | Monitor an agent's progress in real time, steer it with follow-up prompts, and stop or archive sessions. | |||||||||
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| contentType | how-tos | |||||||||
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Use the agents panel on {% data variables.product.github %} to monitor and manage agent sessions across your repositories.
Track sessions from the agents panel (available from any page on {% data variables.product.github %}) or from the agents page. Sessions that you started, or that another user prompted {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} to work on, appear in your sessions list.
Click a session to open the session log and overview, where you can monitor the agent's progress, token usage, and session length.
Session logs show {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %}'s internal reasoning and the tools it used to understand your repository, make changes, and validate its work. {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} has its own ephemeral development environment, so it can run automated tests and linters to validate changes before pushing.
Commits from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} are authored by {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %}, with the person who started the task listed as co-author. Each commit message includes a link to the session logs, so you can trace why a change was made during code review or an audit. Commits are signed and appear as "Verified" on {% data variables.product.github %}.
If {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} is heading in the wrong direction, or you realize your original prompt needs adjusting, you can redirect it without stopping the session.
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Open the agents page and select the session.
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In the prompt box below the session log, type your follow-up. For example:
Use our existing ErrorHandler utility class instead of writing custom try-catch blocks for each endpoint. -
Press Enter. {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} implements your input after it finishes its current tool call.
Each steering message consumes {% data variables.product.prodname_ai_credits_short %}. Steering is not available for third-party coding agents.
If the task no longer needs to be done, or you want to start over with a new prompt, click Stop session in the session log viewer. Stopping a session ends the {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} run and preserves any commits already pushed.
Archive stopped sessions to remove them from your sessions list.
- Open the stopped session.
- Click {% octicon "kebab-horizontal" aria-label="More actions" %}, then click {% octicon "inbox" aria-hidden="true" aria-label="inbox" %} Archive session.
- In the dialog, click Yes, archive.
{% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} sessions can be archived but not deleted. Only local sessions (from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli %}, {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode_shortname %}, JetBrains, or the {% data variables.copilot.github_copilot_app %}) can be deleted. For more information about deleting sessions, see AUTOTITLE.
{% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} sessions are shared by default. They appear in the "All sessions" view on the "Agents" tab of your repository, visible to anyone with access to the repository.
Local sessions (from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli %}, {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode_shortname %}, JetBrains, or the {% data variables.copilot.github_copilot_app %}) are unshared by default. You can choose to share a local session from the "Agents" tab of your repository, giving view-only access to repository collaborators. To share or unshare a local session, use the sharing controls in the session's menu.
Recipients can view the session's prompts, responses, and file changes, but cannot steer or modify the session. Shared local sessions appear in the "All sessions" view but are not indexed for other users' session queries (they will not appear in another user's /chronicle results).
For more information about session syncing, see AUTOTITLE.
You can search your session history by asking natural language questions in {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %} in {% data variables.product.prodname_vscode_shortname %}, JetBrains, the {% data variables.copilot.github_copilot_app %}, or {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom_the_website %}. {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} searches across your synced sessions from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cli_short %}, {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %}, and {% data variables.copilot.copilot_code-review_short %} to provide answers.
You can only query sessions that you started. Your session data is private by default, but you can choose to share individual sessions for view-only access. See Share a session earlier in this article.
Your sessions must be synced to your {% data variables.product.github %} account. By default, session data is synced automatically. If you have opted out of syncing (by setting "remoteExport": false in your CLI settings JSON), or if your organization has not enabled the "Store local sessions in the Cloud" policy, session querying is not available. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.
What agent tasks did I run last week?
Find the session where I refactored authentication.
Have I worked on anything related to the payments API?
Show me sessions where the agent struggled or I had to correct it multiple times.
{% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} can search across your prompts, responses, file changes, and other context from your synced sessions.
For CLI-specific session querying and /chronicle commands, see AUTOTITLE. For conceptual information about how session data is stored and synced, see AUTOTITLE.
You can pass context between {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %} and your {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} sessions on {% data variables.product.github %}.
When you start a session from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %}, it incorporates the context of your conversation, and while the session runs, {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %} reflects its status so you can ask follow-up questions.
When a session is complete, or when you are viewing a pull request {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} created, you can ask what changed, what was validated, and why, and {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} will answer by drawing on the session logs. You can also start another session directly from {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %}.