Autopilot background-task timeout exits active parent after subagent completes
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Description
Describe the bug
In autopilot mode, the 600-second background-task wait timeout terminates the
entire Copilot CLI process even after the background subagent has completed and
the parent agent has resumed work.
The timeout appears to start from when the parent first becomes idle.
It is not cancelled or reset when the background task completes.
The process exits with code 0, causing automation to treat the interrupted run
as successful.
Affected version
1.0.80
Steps to reproduce the behavior
- Start Copilot CLI in autopilot mode.
- Launch a background subagent that remains active for several minutes.
- Allow the parent agent to become idle while awaiting that subagent.
- Let the subagent complete before the configured COPILOT_TASK_WAIT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS deadline.
- Allow the parent to resume work.
- Original timer still fires and exits the entire process, even though the parent is active and the subagent has finished.
Observed timeline from one run:
06:07:40 - background subagent started
06:10:52 - parent became idle while waiting
06:19:12 - subagent completed; parent resumed
06:20:48 - parent was actively streaming an edit tool call
06:20:52 - exactly 600 seconds after the parent became idle, Copilot emitted:
"Timed out after 600s waiting for background tasks to finish; exiting.
Set COPILOT_TASK_WAIT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS to change the limit."
The process then returned exitCode: 0.
The in-progress edit was never executed.
Expected behavior
When a background-task timeout is reached, Copilot CLI should:
- Cancel only background tasks that are still running.
- Return control to the parent with a timeout notification.
- Cancel the wait timer when all background tasks complete.
- Not terminate an active parent because of a stale background-task timer.
If a session-level deadline intentionally terminates the process, it should be reported as a timeout with a nonzero exit status rather than successful completion.
Additional context
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
Start by tracing the COPILOT_TASK_WAIT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS handling and the background-task completion lifecycle in autopilot mode. Reproduce the six-step scenario, verify whether the wait timer is cancelled when the subagent completes and the parent resumes, and check that any intentional session timeout reports a nonzero exit status.
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
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100