github / github/copilot-cli

Startup banner 'N skill(s) failed to load' should name the failing skill(s)

Open
#3,263 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
area:plugins
Dominant language
Shell
Stars
11.2k
Forks
1.9k
Avg merge
14h 16m
Merged PRs (30d)
6

Description

## Problem

When Copilot CLI starts, it may display a banner like:

> ⚠️ 1 skill failed to load

The banner does **not** identify which skill failed. Running `/skills` also doesn't surface the error — every listed skill appears healthy, making it impossible to diagnose without digging into the process log files.

## Current behavior

- The `skills_loaded` telemetry event records `skill_error_count: 1` but no skill names.
- The only way to find the culprit is to grep the log for messages like `Skipping disabled MCP server: computer-use`.
- In this case the "failure" is a built-in MCP server (`computer-use`) that is intentionally disabled behind a feature flag, so the user can't act on it even after finding it.

## Expected behavior

1. **The startup banner should name the failing skill(s):**
`⚠️ 1 skill failed to load: computer-use (disabled)`

2. **`/skills` should have a way to surface errored/skipped skills** — e.g. a separate "Errors" section or a `/skills --errors` flag.

3. **Intentionally disabled built-in servers probably shouldn't count as errors at all** — a disabled-by-feature-flag server is not a user-actionable failure.

## Reproduction

1. Launch `copilot` (v1.0.45, enterprise plan, Windows).
2. Observe the "1 skill failed to load" banner.
3. Run `/skills` — no skill appears broken.
4. Grep the log: `Select-String -Path ~\.copilot\logs\process-*.log -Pattern "Skipping disabled"` → reveals `computer-use`.

## Environment

- Copilot CLI v1.0.45
- Windows 10 (10.0.26200)
- Node v24.15.0
- Enterprise plan

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

No implementation files or tests are named. Trace the startup banner, the skills_loaded telemetry event, /skills rendering, and disabled MCP server handling; done should include actionable failing-skill names, a way to surface skipped or errored skills, and no error count for intentionally disabled servers.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
shell
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.