github / github/copilot-cli

[BUG]: Terminal streaming renderer corrupts output - characters doubled/truncated during streaming

Open
#3,749 5 comments 8 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
area:terminal-rendering
Dominant language
Shell
Stars
11.2k
Forks
1.9k
Avg merge
14h 16m
Merged PRs (30d)
6

Description

## Description

The Copilot CLI terminal renderer corrupts streamed output, producing doubled characters, truncated tokens, and repeated lines. This affects both the thinking/reasoning phase output and the final assistant response output.

## Steps to Reproduce

1. Ask Copilot CLI any question that produces a moderately long response
2. Observe the output as it streams to the terminal

## Observed Behavior

Output is visibly corrupted during streaming. Examples seen:
- Partial tokens rendered before full token is available (e.g. `apil` instead of `apiVersion`)
- Characters doubled mid-word (e.g. `obserrvability`, `permpermissions`)
- Words repeated mid-sentence (e.g. `New ReliNew Relic`, `useruser`)
- Lines repeated (e.g. `metadata:` block appearing twice)
- Thinking/reasoning tokens streamed visibly with same corruption artifacts

Example corrupted output observed:
```
apil
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
...
- apiGroups: [piGroups: [""]
```

## Expected Behavior

Output should render cleanly with no corruption, doubled characters, or repeated lines.

## Environment

- Copilot CLI version: 1.0.61
- OS: Darwin (macOS)

## Notes

The underlying content being generated is correct — the issue is purely in how the CLI streams and renders tokens to the terminal.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the corruption in the Copilot CLI terminal renderer on macOS, comparing thinking/reasoning and final-response streaming. Trace how the renderer handles partial tokens and line updates; done means streamed output matches the underlying content without doubled characters, truncation, or repeated lines.

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.