How to include current opened file to the chat view automatically?

[doggy8088]

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In the recent GitHub Copilot update, the previous behavior where GitHub Copilot automatically loaded the currently opened file in the editor as context in the Chat View has been changed, and it no longer adds them by default. Is there a setting to adjust so that the currently open files can be added to the Chat View?

[Shiv24angi]

n the recent GitHub Copilot update for Visual Studio Code, the behavior of automatically including the currently open file as context in the Chat View has been changed, and it no longer does so by default. To include the currently open file as context, you need to explicitly reference it. There are a few ways to achieve this:

Use the #editor Reference: You can include the currently open file's visible content as context by adding #editor to your chat prompt. This tells Copilot to use the content from the active editor window. For example, type #editor followed by your question in the Chat View to ensure the open file is considered.
Manually Reference Files: You can explicitly reference specific files by typing # followed by the file name in the chat prompt or by using the "Add Context" button in the Chat View to select files or folders. This allows you to include the currently open file or other relevant files manually.
Drag and Drop Files: You can drag and drop files directly into the Chat View to add them as context for your prompt. This is a quick way to include the currently open file if you prefer a manual approach.
Check for Settings: As of the latest updates, there is no specific setting in VS Code to revert to the old behavior of automatically including all open files as context in the Chat View. However, you can enable the github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled (preview) setting to allow Copilot to automatically find relevant files when you use #codebase in your prompt, which may include open files as part of the broader codebase context. This setting can be enabled in VS Code’s settings under github.copilot.chat.codesearch.enabled

[doggy8088]

The chat variable seems to have been changed to #editFiles.

[Karpadoor]

How justified is the change in this behavior? For me, it's somewhat a step backward that I have to manually indicate the context, whereas previously it was intuitive - that I am asking about the highlighted section.

[doggy8088]

AFAIK, the #editFiles is actually a tool. It's not a variable that point to the selection in the editor.

[guocity]

#editor is not showing up in in Edit Mode

[tosmaniac]

The box showing the file in the editor is actually hashed and blurred in the chat, if you click on it then it get added to the chat and the file name changes.

[DanielEnglert-SRX]

I now have to manually click the file in the chat, I primarily use my keyboard. This is an incredibly bad developer experience.

We need a preference to turn this back on, this makes copilot a lot less useful for me.

[DanielEnglert-SRX]

Copilot no longer searches for relevant files in Ask or Edit mode. Only agent mode now traverses my repo as it needs to. I used to rely on this in all chat modes.

[12rambau]

I'm also very frustrated by this functionality. Can you at least make the context persistent in the chat ? If ask something with a specific context and the answer is bad then I need to set the context back again so he does not start an infinite loop.

IMHO "use open editor" should be a persistent option as per "ask, agent" etc. So that I set this up once when I open the chat and never again I touch it during my coding session.

[johsephkarter7]

Yeah, that change confused me too it used to make workflow smoother. I haven’t seen an official toggle yet, but some users on Luck pub Game mentioned a workaround using custom context settings in Copilot Labs.