github / github/copilot-cli

Custom agent frontmatter: accept array for `model:` field

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#3,070 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
area:agents area:configuration area:models
Dominant language
Shell
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

### Feature request

Allow custom agent markdown frontmatter to accept an **array** of strings for the `model:` field, in addition to a single string.

### Motivation

VS Code chat modes already support `model:` as a list — it's used to present a model picker for the chat mode. This means the same agent definition file can't currently be shared cleanly between VS Code and Copilot CLI: the CLI rejects the file with:

`custom agent markdown frontmatter is malformed: model: Expected string, received array`

This forces plugin authors to either:

- Maintain two copies of every agent file (one for VS Code, one for CLI), or
- Pick one tool and accept that the agent won't load in the other.

### Proposed behavior

When `model:` is an array, the CLI uses the **first** entry as the default model for that agent (and ideally treats the rest as acceptable alternates the user can switch to with `/model` while invoking the agent). When `model:` is a string, behavior is unchanged.

### Alternatives considered

- Authors flatten `model:` to a single string — works in both, but loses the picker UX in VS Code.
- A local post-install patch script — fragile, breaks after every `plugin update`.

Accepting an array in the CLI parser is the only change that lets the same plugin work unmodified in both surfaces.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by locating the custom-agent Markdown frontmatter parser and the validation for its model field. Verify that string behavior is unchanged, arrays use the first entry as the default, and malformed values still fail; add or update parser tests if present.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
markdown, shell
Domain
cli, tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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