Второй пилот CLI stores its configuration, session history, logs, and customizations in a single directory on your machine. By default, this directory is ~/.copilot (that is, $HOME/.copilot).
This article describes the contents of this directory and how you can use them.
Directory overview
The ~/.copilot directory contains the following top-level items.
| Path | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
config.json | File | Your personal configuration settings |
mcp-config.json | File | User-level MCP server definitions |
permissions-config.json | File | Saved tool and directory permissions per project |
agents/ | Directory | Personal custom agent definitions |
skills/ | Directory | Personal custom skill definitions |
hooks/ | Directory | User-level hook scripts |
logs/ | Directory | Session log files |
session-state/ | Directory | Session history and workspace data |
session-store.db | File | SQLite database for cross-session data |
installed-plugins/ | Directory | Installed plugin files |
ide/ | Directory | IDE integration state |
Примечание.
Not all of these items appear immediately. Some are created on demand the first time you use a particular feature—for example, installed-plugins/ appears only after you install your first plugin.
User-editable files
The following files are designed to be edited by you directly, or managed through CLI commands.
config.json
This is the primary configuration file for Второй пилот CLI. You can edit it directly in a text editor, or use interactive commands like /model and /theme to change specific values from within a session. The file supports JSON with comments (JSONC).
Common settings include:
| Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
model | string | AI model to use (e.g., "gpt-5.2", "claude-sonnet-4.6") |
effortLevel | string | Reasoning effort level for models that support it |
theme | string | Color theme: "auto", "dark", or "light" |
alt_screen | boolean | Use the alternate screen buffer (default: true) |
mouse | boolean | Enable mouse support in alt screen mode (default: true) |
banner | string | Animated banner frequency: "always", "once", or "never" (default: "once") |
render_markdown | boolean | Render markdown in responses (default: true) |
screen_reader | boolean | Enable screen reader optimizations (default: false) |
auto_update | boolean | Automatically download CLI updates (default: true) |
stream | boolean | Stream responses token by token (default: true) |
includeCoAuthoredBy | boolean | Add Co-authored-by to agent-created commits (default: true) |
respectGitignore | boolean | Exclude gitignored files from the @ file picker (default: true) |
trusted_folders | string[] | Folders where read/execute permission has been granted |
allowed_urls | string[] | URLs or domains allowed without prompting |
denied_urls | string[] | URLs or domains that are always denied |
log_level | string | Log verbosity: "none", "error", "warning", "info", "debug", "all", or "default" (default: "default") |
disableAllHooks | boolean | Disable all hooks (default: false) |
hooks | object | Inline user-level hook definitions |
For a full list of configuration settings, enter copilot help config in your terminal.
Совет
Some settings can also be set using command-line flags. For example, --alt-screen and --no-alt-screen set the alt_screen value and persist it to config.json. The /model slash command writes your model selection to this file so it persists across sessions.
mcp-config.json
Defines MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers available at the user level. These servers are available in all your sessions, regardless of which project directory you're in. Project-level MCP configurations (in .mcp.json, .github/mcp.json, or .vscode/mcp.json) take precedence over user-level definitions when server names conflict.
For more information, see Добавление MCP-серверов для GitHub Copilot CLI.
agents/
Store personal custom agent definitions here as .agent.md files. Agents placed in this directory are available in all your sessions. Project-level agents (in .github/agents/) take precedence over personal agents if they share the same name.
For more information, see Создание и использование пользовательских агентов для GitHub Copilot CLI.
skills/
Store personal custom skill definitions here. Each skill lives in a subdirectory containing a SKILL.md file—for example, ~/.copilot/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md. Personal skills are available in all your sessions. Project-level skills take precedence over personal skills if they share the same name.
For more information, see Создание агентских навыков для GitHub Copilot CLI.
hooks/
Store user-level hook scripts here. These hooks apply to all your sessions. You can also define hooks inline in config.json using the hooks key. Repository-level hooks (in .github/hooks/) are loaded alongside user-level hooks.
For more information, see Использование крючков с GitHub Copilot CLI.
Automatically managed files
The following items are managed by the CLI. You generally should not edit them manually.
permissions-config.json
Stores your saved tool and directory permission decisions, organized by project location. When you approve a tool or grant access to a directory, the CLI records the decision here so you aren't prompted again in the same project.
Примечание.
If you want to reset permissions for a project, you can delete the relevant entry from this file. However, editing the file while a session is running may cause unexpected behavior.
session-state/
Contains session history data, organized by session ID in subdirectories. Each session directory stores an event log (events.jsonl) and workspace artifacts (plans, checkpoints, tracked files). This data enables session resume (--resume or --continue).
session-store.db
A SQLite database used by the CLI for cross-session data such as checkpoint indexing and search. This file is automatically managed and should not be edited.
logs/
Contains log files for CLI sessions. Each session creates a log file named process-{timestamp}-{pid}.log. These files are useful for debugging issues.
Совет
To find the log file for your current session, enter /session in an interactive session. The output includes the full path to the log file, along with other session details such as the session ID, duration, and working directory.
installed-plugins/
Contains the files for plugins you have installed. Plugins installed from a marketplace are stored under installed-plugins/{marketplace-name}/{plugin-name}/. Directly installed plugins are stored under installed-plugins/_direct/. Manage plugins using the copilot plugin commands rather than editing this directory directly.
For more information, see GitHub Copilot Ссылка на плагин CLI.
ide/
Contains lock files and state for IDE integrations (for example, when Второй пилот CLI connects to Visual Studio Code). This directory is automatically managed.
Changing the location of the configuration directory
You can override the default ~/.copilot location in two ways:
-
Environment variable: Set
COPILOT_HOMEto the path of the directory you want to use.Bash export COPILOT_HOME=/path/to/my/copilot-config
export COPILOT_HOME=/path/to/my/copilot-config -
Command-line option: Use
--config-dirwhen launching the CLI.Bash copilot --config-dir /path/to/my/copilot-config
copilot --config-dir /path/to/my/copilot-config
The --config-dir option takes precedence over COPILOT_HOME, which in turn takes precedence over the default ~/.copilot location.
Things to be aware of
-
COPILOT_HOMEreplaces the entire~/.copilotpath. The value you set should be the complete path to the directory you want to use for the configuration files and subdirectories. -
Changing the directory means your existing configuration, session history, installed plugins, and saved permissions will not be found in the new location. Copy or move the contents of
~/.copilotto the new location if you want to preserve them. -
The cache directory (used for marketplace caches, auto-update packages, and other ephemeral data) follows platform conventions and is not affected by
COPILOT_HOME. It is located at:- macOS:
~/Library/Caches/copilot - Linux:
$XDG_CACHE_HOME/copilotor~/.cache/copilot - Windows:
%LOCALAPPDATA%/copilot
To override the cache directory separately, set
COPILOT_CACHE_HOME. - macOS:
What you can safely delete
| Item | Safe to delete? | Effect |
|---|---|---|
logs/ | Yes | Log files are re-created each session. Deleting them has no functional impact. |
session-state/ | With caution | Deleting removes session history. You will no longer be able to resume past sessions. |
session-store.db | With caution | Deleting removes cross-session data. The file is re-created automatically. |
config.json | With caution | Resets all configuration to defaults. You will need to reconfigure your preferences. |
permissions-config.json | With caution | Resets all saved permissions. The CLI will prompt you again for tool and directory approvals. |
installed-plugins/ | Not recommended | Use copilot plugin uninstall instead, to ensure plugin metadata in config.json stays consistent. |
mcp-config.json | Not recommended | You will lose your user-level MCP server definitions. Back up first. |
agents/, skills/, hooks/ | Not recommended | You will lose your personal customizations. Back up first. |