github / github/copilot-cli

/usage help text does not explain mixed metric scopes

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area:sessions
Dominant language
Shell
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Description

Describe the bug

The /usage command help text says:

Display session usage metrics and statistics

However, the command output combines metrics with three different scopes:

  1. Activity · last 180 days · N messages is aggregated from local history across multiple saved CLI sessions.
  2. Changes, AI Credits, Tokens, and the per-model breakdown describe the current session.
  3. Plan describes account/plan usage for the current quota period.

Calling all of this "session usage" is misleading. In a new session with only one user prompt, /usage can report hundreds of messages and show a six-month activity graph, making it appear that either the session boundary or message count is incorrect.

Affected version
GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.81-11
Steps to reproduce the behavior
  1. Use Copilot CLI across multiple sessions.
  2. Start a new session and send one prompt.
  3. Run /usage.
  4. Observe that the help describes session metrics, while the output includes a 180-day, multi-session message count and chart plus plan-period quota usage.

Representative output:

Activity · last 180 days · 861 messages
...
Changes    +0 -0
AI Credits 2.72 (22h 1m 8s)
Tokens     ↑ 23.3k (11.8k cached) • ↓ 179
  gpt-5.6-sol ↑ 23.3k (11.8k cached) • ↓ 179
Plan       ... 0% used • resets in 27 days
           200 / 200,000 AIC
Expected behavior

The help text and documentation should make the scopes explicit. For example:

Display local activity history, current-session usage metrics, and plan quota usage

Ideally, the rendered output would also label each section's scope (for example, Local activity, Current session, and Plan period) so users do not have to infer it.

Additional context
  • Operating system: Windows
  • CPU architecture: x86_64
  • Shell: PowerShell
  • The current documentation describes /usage as showing "session statistics," including current-session AI Credits, duration, code edits, and token usage. It does not explain that the command also includes local multi-session activity and account/plan-period quota information.

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

Locate the /usage help text and the documentation referenced in the issue, then inspect how the command output labels its sections. Update the wording so local activity, current-session metrics, and plan-period quota scopes are explicit; verify the help text and rendered output no longer describe all metrics as session usage.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
shell
Domain
cli, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
72/100

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