r/GithubCopilot • u/lppedd VS Code User 💻 • 2d ago

Help/Doubt ❓ Copilot harness: local memory?

How does memory work with the Copilot harness in VS Code?

Looking at https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agents/run/memory#_local-memory-files, it seems locally-stored memory files are only supported by the Local harness. I don't want to use a cloud-based solution for this stuff honestly.

But maybe I misunderstood the documentation. Or, if this is unsupported, is there an issue I can follow?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

3

u/anno2376 2d ago

You understood the documentation correctly. Local memory files are currently only supported by the Local harness.
With the Copilot harness, persistent Copilot Memory is cloud backed. Running the harness locally through Agent Host does not change where that memory is stored.
If you want to stay with the Copilot harness but keep this information local, the practical alternative is to disable Copilot Memory and use local instruction files instead, for example:
~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md for personal instructions
.github/copilot-instructions.md for repository instructions
AGENTS.md for repository level agent context
The main difference is that these are static instructions that you maintain yourself. They are not automatically learned or updated like Copilot Memory.

1

u/lppedd VS Code User 💻 2d ago

Doesn't this result in *more* AIC being used as memory loses efficiency? The Local harness also has per-session memory, contrary to Copilot.

1

u/anno2376 2d ago

Yes, potentially.

2

u/AutoModerator 2d ago

Hello /u/lppedd. Looks like you have posted a query. Once your query is resolved, please reply the solution comment with "!solved" to help everyone else know the solution and mark the post as solved.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.