Options passed to a custom skill invocation are dropped before reaching the model
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Description
Describe the bug
When invoking a custom skill using /skill-name --option value, Copilot CLI records the complete input but omits the option arguments from the prompt dispatched to the skill.
Environment:
- GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.81-6
- Windows
- Session: 2da2d958-a8cd-4eeb-9760-241fac5b53ed
- Occurred around 2026-08-21 04:10:27 UTC
The session event log contains the complete command and arguments. However, the model-visible invocation contains only that the skill was explicitly invoked plus its SKILL.md instructions. Because the arguments are absent, the skill follows its no-arguments behavior.
Affected version
1.0.81-6
Steps to reproduce the behavior
- Define a repository skill that supports command-line-style arguments and has different behavior when no arguments are supplied.
- Invoke it with arguments, for example:
/evaluate-meeting-prep --slides week-over-week,speed,tokens --current "Model=C:\path\to\cohort" - Observe that the skill loads successfully.
- Observe that the skill behaves as if no arguments were supplied and displays its interactive slide-selection menu.
- Inspect the session event log: the original user.message contains the complete command, including --slides and --current, but those arguments are absent from the prompt delivered to the model with the skill context.
Expected behavior
When a custom skill is invoked as /skill-name <arguments>, the complete argument text should be included in the model-visible skill invocation. In this example, the skill should receive --slides week-over-week,speed,tokens and the supplied cohort paths, then proceed without asking the user to select slides again.
Additional context
- Copilot CLI: 1.0.81-6
- Operating system: Windows x64
- Shell: PowerShell
- Session ID: 2da2d958-a8cd-4eeb-9760-241fac5b53ed
- Timestamp: 2026-08-21 04:10:27 UTC
Diagnostic detail: the session's raw user.message event contains the complete 521-character invocation, including --slides, --current, --prior, and --outdir. The subsequent model-visible skill invocation contains the loaded skill instructions but none of those options. This indicates the options are lost during skill dispatch rather than input parsing.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Reproduce the custom skill invocation in GitHub Copilot CLI on Windows PowerShell, then compare the raw user.message event with the model-visible skill invocation. Trace the skill dispatch path to find where the option text is dropped; done means the complete arguments, including --slides, --current, --prior, and --outdir, reach the model and the skill skips its no-arguments behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- powershell, shell
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 58/100