Send to Copilot Chat

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A VS Code extension that sends your selected code to GitHub Copilot Chat as a native file attachment with a single keyboard shortcut.

Features

• One key shortcut — Press Ctrl+L (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+L (Mac) to attach selected code directly to Copilot Chat.
• Toggle focus — Press the same shortcut while Copilot Chat input is focused to return focus to the editor.
• Native attachment chips — Uses VS Code's built-in attachFiles API so attachments appear as clickable label chips, fully understood by Copilot.
• Multi-selection support — Hold Alt and select multiple ranges; each becomes a separate attachment chip.
• Two modes — Simple (chip only) or Full (chip + selected text pre-filled as a query).
• Smart path resolution — Uses workspace-relative paths when available, falls back to absolute paths for files outside the workspace.

Requirements

• VS Code ^1.85.0
• GitHub Copilot Chat extension installed and signed in.

Usage

1. Open any file in the editor.
2. Select the code you want to send (single or multiple selections).
3. Press Ctrl+L / Cmd+L.
4. Copilot Chat opens (or gains focus) with your file attachment chip ready — type your question and press Enter.
5. Press Ctrl+L / Cmd+L again while in the chat input to return focus to the editor.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Platform	Default Shortcut
Windows/Linux	Ctrl+L
macOS	Cmd+L

Tip: The keybinding only fires when the text editor has focus and text is selected, so it won't conflict with terminal or other panel shortcuts.

To customize the shortcut, open File → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts and search for Copilot: Send to Copilot Chat.

Recommended Keybindings

The extension registers keybindings in package.json, but other extensions (e.g. GitHub Copilot Chat itself) may override Cmd+L / Ctrl+L. If the shortcut doesn't work, add the following to your user keybindings.json (open via Command Palette → Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)):

// Send selected code to Copilot Chat
{
    "key": "cmd+l",          // Windows/Linux: "ctrl+l"
    "command": "sendToCopilot.send",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && editorHasSelection"
},
// Toggle: return focus to editor from chat input
{
    "key": "cmd+l",          // Windows/Linux: "ctrl+l"
    "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup",
    "when": "inChatInput"
}

Note: User-level keybindings have the highest priority and will override any conflicting bindings from extensions.

Extension Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
sendToCopilot.mode	string	simple	simple — attachment chip only.
			full — chip + selected text as query.

Changing the mode

Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and search for sendToCopilot.mode, or add to settings.json:

"sendToCopilot.mode": "full"

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Nothing happens when pressing Ctrl+L	Make sure the text editor has focus and text is selected.
Shortcut doesn't work / conflicts	Add the recommended keybindings to your user keybindings.json.
"GitHub Copilot Chat is not installed" error	Install the GitHub Copilot Chat extension.
Chat opens but no attachment chip appears	Ensure your VS Code version is ≥ 1.85 and Copilot Chat is up to date.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# Watch for changes
npm run watch

# Press F5 in VS Code to launch Extension Development Host

License

MIT