github / github/copilot-cli

Add a way to list currently running Copilot CLI sessions with their status

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area:non-interactive area:sessions
Dominant language
Shell
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Description

Feature request: Anthropic's Claude Code CLI has a ⁠claude agents --json⁠ command that lists every currently-running interactive session on the machine, each with an id, name, cwd, and status (idle/busy/waiting/blocked). This makes it possible to build an external dashboard/monitor across multiple parallel sessions (e.g. several terminal tabs or IDE panes each running their own session).
Copilot CLI has no equivalent today — ⁠--resume⁠/⁠--session-id⁠/⁠/session⁠ all operate on a specific known session for resuming, not on discovering other currently-active sessions and their live state. The closest thing is the undocumented ⁠~/.copilot/session-state//events.jsonl⁠ per-session event log, but it's internal, unversioned, and provides no "is this session still alive" signal (no PID recorded anywhere).
Ask: a ⁠copilot sessions --json⁠ (or similar) command/flag that lists currently-active sessions with at least an id, working directory, and a coarse status (busy/idle, and ideally "waiting for tool permission" as a third state) — enabling external tooling to build a multi-session status dashboard the same way it's possible for Claude Code today.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by examining the existing session controls (--resume, --session-id, and /session) and the undocumented ~/.copilot/session-state//events.jsonl logs described in the issue. Determine how active sessions and their live state can be identified, then define completion around a JSON listing that reports each active session's id, working directory, and coarse status.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
shell
Domain
cli, tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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