Ref: #255483

• windows @Tyriar
• linux @rzhao271
• macOS @eleanorjboyd

Complexity: 4

Authors: @joshspicer, @mattbierner, @osortega, @bamurtaugh

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Prereq

1. Latest VS Code Insiders
2. Latest pre-release GitHub Pull Request Extension
3. Configure the VS Code settings:
   • "chat.agentSessionsViewLocation": "view",
   • "githubPullRequests.codingAgent.uiIntegration": true, (optional, if you'd like more Coding Agent UI integration)

Context

We're developing a couple main flows for the GitHub Copilot coding agent, including:

1. PR driven: I initiate and manage coding agent sessions from the GHPR extension
2. Chat driven: I initiate and manage coding agent sessions from the chat view (I don't have to use PR interactions from GHPR)

This TPI focuses on flow 2, the chat-driven scenario.

Steps

The goal of this TPI is to explore initiating, tracking, and iterating on remote coding agent sessions all from VS Code chat. Below are some exploratory steps - please feel free to use these to guide your exploration, along with other ways you'd naturally expect to interact with coding agent sessions from chat.

• Selecting and initiating work: Select a task to complete.
  • You can browse and interact with existing sessions from several locations, including:
    • Show Chats... button at top of chat panel (enabled via "chat.agentSessionsViewLocation": "showChatsMenu",)
    • The new Chat Sessions view (enabled via "chat.agentSessionsViewLocation": "view",)
  • You can also initiate coding agent sessions in chat in several ways, including:
    • #copilotCodingAgent in a chat prompt
    • Cloud button in chat panel (enabled via "githubPullRequests.codingAgent.uiIntegration": true,)
• New remote session starts:
  • You can monitor, exit, or completely stop the session at any time
  • You can choose to reopen any previous or in-progress chat sessions in chat editor
• Review and iterate on remote session's output:
  • You can tell when a session is complete and ready for review
  • Clicking on a session will open it as a chat editor, where you can see the session log output
  • You may choose to split the editor to have multiple remote and local sessions open at once
  • There's a Review changes button in chat for completed sessions
  • You can send follow-up prompts to the coding agent
• You can manage all your local chat sessions:
  • You can manage multiple chat editors in the same chat sessions view (enabled via "chat.agentSessionsViewLocation": "view",)
  • You are able to navigate to the secondary bar chat view.
  • The chat titles in the view updates as you interact with the chat session.
• Further review:
  • You can choose if you'd like to review changes more deeply in the GHPR extension
    • Comments you added from chat follow-ups will appear on the PR overview page
    • Sessions kicked off from GHPR or github.com will also be accessible from the new Chat Sessions view