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~/.config/github-copilot/apps.json not created/saved even though authentication succeeds #284

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~/.config/github-copilot/apps.json not created/saved even though authentication succeeds#284

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@lebedov
lebedov
opened on May 20, 2026

I've been successfully using copilot.vim 1.59.0 in Neovim 0.12.2 on Ubuntu 22.04.5 with a corporate Github Copilot subscription; I can verify that authentication succeeds and that completions are successfully processed when I edit code (and if I examine the copilot.vim log). Recently, however, it seems that the plugin isn't saving the authentication token into apps.json. This poses issues with another vim plugin that relies upon copilot.vim for authentication (https://github.com/olimorris/codecompanion.nvim). Any thoughts as to what could be preventing the apps.json file from being created/saved? The ~/.config/github-copilot/ folder appears to be writable, i.e., I can manually save files there. Tried deleting the whole directory before starting Neovim and authenticating; after authentication, the directory was recreated; it contains auth.db, auth.db-shm, auth.db-wal, versions.json, but not apps.json

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  1. lebedov
    changed the title [-]~/.config/github-copilot/hosts.json not created/saved even though authentication succeeds[/-] [+]~/.config/github-copilot/apps.json not created/saved even though authentication succeeds[/+] on May 20, 2026

  2. PerMalmberg commented on May 27, 2026

    @PerMalmberg
    PerMalmberg
    on May 27, 2026

    @lebedov Did you happen to find the cause of this? I'm experiencing the same, but in copilot.lua zbirenbaum/copilot.lua#706

  3. lebedov commented on May 27, 2026

    @lebedov
    lebedov
    on May 27, 2026
    Author

    @lebedov Did you happen to find the cause of this? I'm experiencing the same, but in copilot.lua zbirenbaum/copilot.lua#706

    Alas, no. I noticed that it only seems to happen on Linux, but not on MacOS with the exact same Neovim, copilot.vim, and NodeJS versions.

  4. PerMalmberg commented on May 27, 2026

    @PerMalmberg
    PerMalmberg
    on May 27, 2026

    @lebedov Did you happen to find the cause of this? I'm experiencing the same, but in copilot.lua zbirenbaum/copilot.lua#706

    Alas, no. I noticed that it only seems to happen on Linux, but not on MacOS with the exact same Neovim, copilot.vim, and NodeJS versions.

    Hm, I get it on both macOS and Linux, all the same config and node versions.

  5. cainsusk commented on Jun 4, 2026

    @cainsusk
    cainsusk
    on Jun 4, 2026

    @lebedov Did you happen to find the cause of this? I'm experiencing the same, but in copilot.lua zbirenbaum/copilot.lua#706

    Alas, no. I noticed that it only seems to happen on Linux, but not on MacOS with the exact same Neovim, copilot.vim, and NodeJS versions.

    Hm, I get it on both macOS and Linux, all the same config and node versions.

    Yea I can confirm I am having the same issue on MacOS

  6. lebedov commented on Jun 5, 2026

    @lebedov
    lebedov
    on Jun 5, 2026
    Author

    I asked Github Copilot to analyze the copilot.vim codebase and investigate why auth.db might exist without apps.json. Here is what it found:

    auth.db and apps.json have different triggers.

auth.db = state database. Created when client advertises copilotCapabilities.stateDatabase: true; server initializes SQLite under config dir. It can happen at startup, before any auth succeeds.

apps.json = Copilot GitHub auth record. Created only after persistent Copilot sign-in saves {user, oauth_token, githubAppId} or startup migrates valid old hosts.json.

So auth.db without apps.json means likely:

 - Client enabled state DB, but sign-in never completed.
 - Auth came from env token (GH_COPILOT_TOKEN, GITHUB_COPILOT_TOKEN, Codespaces GITHUB_TOKEN) → no persistent apps.json.
 - Dynamic/MCP OAuth stored sessions in state DB, not Copilot GitHub auth.
 - Existing hosts.json absent/invalid/no user or oauth_token, so migration skipped.
 - Path mismatch: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/github-copilot used for one expectation, not ~/.config/github-copilot.

For plain copilot.vim, current Vim client does not set stateDatabase, so it should not create auth.db by itself. If auth.db appears, likely another client/integration or different init options set that capability.

    I'm not setting XDG_CONFIG_HOME or any of the *TOKEN env variables on my system, so I don't think those are the causes of the problem. Some of the other comments, though, make me wonder whether one of the other plugins I have installed is interfering with copilot.vim. Will try disabling everything except copilot.vim, codecompanion.nvim, and related dependencies and see what happens.

  7. karimaharyouli47-hash commented on Jun 10, 2026

    @karimaharyouli47-hash
    karimaharyouli47-hash
    on Jun 10, 2026 via email

  8. AntoineGS commented on Jun 10, 2026

    @AntoineGS
    AntoineGS
    on Jun 10, 2026

    I did some digging and it seems newer versions of the LSP do not use apps.json anymore, and only write to the new sqlite3 database.
    Other apps like codecompanion will have to adapt.

  9. lebedov commented on Jun 19, 2026

    @lebedov
    lebedov
    on Jun 19, 2026
    Author

    I did some digging and it seems newer versions of the LSP do not use apps.json anymore, and only write to the new sqlite3 database. Other apps like codecompanion will have to adapt.

    Submitted a PR for codecompanion to address this.

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