GitHub Copilot Integration FAQ

Q: Host app shows Server unavailable, please make sure you have installed Node, or GitHub Copilot not working.

A: Please ensure that the Path to Node correctly points to a valid Node executable. Avoid using ~ in place of /Users/username

If you are using Node version v16 or anything lower, consider updating to a newer version of Node.

If you’re using nodenv or other version manager that uses executable shimming, use the path that points to a specific version of Node, such as /Users/username/.nodenv/versions/19.8.1/bin/node.

You can also try setting “run node with” to other options.

After making changes, be sure to restart both the host app and the helper app.

If none of the above is working for you, you can observe the logs posted by the language server using the Console.app.

• Set the filter to the category:GitHubCopilot to show only the logs from the language server. See if there is anything you can do.
• Set the filter to process:CopilotForXcodeExtensionService to show only logs from the helper app.
• Set the filter to process:Copilot for Xcode to show only logs from the host app.

You can turn on verbose log and see if anything useful is printing on the console.

Q: Host app shows timeout (or other errors) when signing in to GitHub Copilot.

A: The language server seems to be not working correctly. You can observe the logs posted by the language server using the Console.app. Set up the filter to the process CopilotForXcodeExtensionService and subsystem com.chimehq.JSONRPC to show only the logs from the language server. See if there is anything you can do.

Also, make sure you are not doing any thing in you hosts file about GitHub.

Q: I have signed in to my GitHub account, but the app doesn’t generate any suggestions.

A: Please make sure the GitHub Copilot status is OK. If it’s not, it’s likely that your GitHub Copilot subscription is not valid.

If you are new to GitHub Copilot, it’s recommended to visit its official website to learn about its behavior.

Q: The GitHub Copilot status is Not Authorized, or anything not OK.

A: Please make sure your GitHub Copilot subscription is valid.

Q: The widget presents a LanguageServerError that has no enough information about what the cause is.

A: The error is posted by the GitHub Copilot language server. Most of the time you can just ignore it. If the error persists, please try:

1. Check you GitHub Copilot settings in the host app, make sure the status is OK.
2. You can observe the logs posted by the language server using the Console.app. Set up the filter to the process CopilotForXcodeExtensionService. See if there is anything you can do.

Q: Can I use the GitHub Copilot Chat

A: We have a proof-of-concept version of GitHub Copilot chat support. To use it, you have to

• In GitHub Copilot settings, turn on “Pretend IDE to be VSCode”
• In Chat settings, change the chat model to “GitHub Copilot (poc)”

This implementation uses the language server to access GitHub Copilot chat, so I believe it’s safe to use. But again, whether this is allowed is up to GitHub’s policy.

Please note that system prompt and temperature will have no effect to GitHub Copilot chat. GitHub Copilot chat can’t be used as a utility model.

For any updates, please refer to this issue #380.