Regular IDE autocomplete and Github CoPilot must work together

[shashvatshukla]

Many programmers have already built habits of IDE autocompletions that help to complete things such as variable and function names based on code written in the rest of the file. Github CoPilot should not interfere with that type of autocompletion. At the moment Github CoPilot is almost completely replacing regular IDE autocomplete if you enable tab autocompletion with Github CoPilot.

Here are two cases where this leads to a negative outcome:

• After writing the first few characters of a function name, the programmer wants to hit tab to complete the full name, but Github Copilot is suggesting a longer completion which the programmer doesn't want. The programmer has to write the whole function name now by hand.
• It seems that Github Copilot autocompletes what seems like real function names but are actually just false predictions. For example the programmer writes the name of an object followed by a "." and expects the regular IDE autocomplete dropdown suggesting possible functions or parameters of that object next. Instead Github CoPilot offers an autocomplete suggestion, but it turns out that this function/parameter does not actually exist in the object.

(I am using Github CoPilot with Visual Studio Code for Python.)

[CamelCaseCam]

Also, when you want to accept a Copilot suggestion sometimes it accepts the IDE autocomplete instead. Is there a way to change the "accept suggestion" key?

[endasil]

I agree that the fighting between copilot and intellisense is an issue. I'm using visual studio 2022, intellisense suggest a completion, i press enter to select it but then I was too slow so the intellisense dissapears and copilot prints a suggestion, enter does not autocomplete so it just becomes a new row and i have to manually type what I wanted. It feels like copilot is a promising new technology but at the moment i'm not sure if it speeds up things or slows me down because all the times it suggests something that is irrelevant to what I'm working with and fights with intellisense.

[endasil]

Tried copilot again after yet another year of waiting. Pressing tab does not autocomplete, it just adds a tab.

[ayim]

@endasil I wonder if your Copilot extension was having trouble autoupdating ... we first launched this functionality in late June.

Try installing the most recent VSIX from this page: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilotvs

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/github-copilot-visual-studio-intellisense/

[juliesaia]

@CamelCaseCam @endasil i fixed this!

Keyboard Shortcuts
Accept Inline Suggestion
(right click) Change When Expression
Remove && !suggestWidgetVisible

now tab accepts copilot suggestions over intellisense, and i can hit enter to choose the intellisense suggestion instead :)

[Aeroverra]

This is definitely a problem I finally disabled it after fighting with things I would normally use autocomplete for.

Half the time I go to change a Linq query or something small, copilot breaks IntelliSense and no suggestions are shown or it takes over and suggests a whole mess of garbage the second I hit tab.

[AppFzx]

Same problem. Previously, I could type {namespace}.[firstletter] and then autocomplete the right thing in ~one keystroke: tab. This now takes more keystrokes than I can count because CoPilot dumps a load of garbage instead of the namespace/class/method/etc which it helpfully blocks intellisense from providing.

[cmp-nct]

On top, in most cases copilot recommends 5-10 times the amount of code I want. 90% of it garbage.
When they market "copilot saves 60%" of time, they include the metric that I am accepting 10 lines of code but do not register the next 3 seconds where 9.5 lines are removed afterward to fix the destroyed codebase.
The control over what, how much and how completions are accepted are basically non existent at this time.
It's "all of nothing".
In my case it's IntelliJ/Jetbrains.
That's the, by far, most frustrating thing with it at this point.

[matrs]

This is a problem. You should be able to set the priority between Copilot and IntelliSense, which suggestion appears first. Moreover, let say the Escape key can be used to toggle between IntelliSense and Copilot, so pressing it, changes the "type" of suggestion. For example, I'm in python writing df. and a copilot suggestions shows, pressing escape would make automatically an intellisense dropdown menu appears. Also, to avoid continuously pressing escape, the priority setting would be really useful. Currently, you have to escape, delete the dot and write it again to avoid getting a copilot suggestion and finally see the dropdown menu (and i'm not sure if this always works)

[cmp-nct]

I've been using Copilot on IntelliJ and on IntelliSense, the plugins are both doing a real bad job. Maybe it's intentional, I've the impression those flaws are deliberate.
Copilot (Codex) itself is so advanced, it's totally amazing to me how much it can do.

I'm writing a couple hacks and tools to modify the way it works, it already is much more useable if you use it for word-by-word completion.

[JohannesPertl]

@cmp-nct Which hacks/tools did you write to make it more useable?

[cmp-nct]

For Jetbrains this: https://github.com/cmp-nct/stewardess
For VScode you can use Ctrl -> instead of tab

[TopherGopher]

Huge plus 1 to this - love me some co-pilot, but it drives me nuts when it tries to create a function when I just want to call an existing function. Just having a different hot-key to allow the standard Intellisense auto-complete when you don't like the co-pilot suggestions would be MASSIVE. I'm on Mac/JetBrains Ultimate.

[endasil]

Seems like they moved out from Russia.

https://blog.jetbrains.com/blog/2022/12/06/update-on-jetbrains-statement-on-ukraine/

[JohannesPertl]

Any updates? This is a huge problem

[maxilirator]

I second this, a solution is needed to get a really good experience.

[didac-adria]

I agree with your comments. I find that problem too when coding, and I'm pretty sure 90% of the programmers do. In OOP, in many cases your IDE already knows the names of your attributes, while CoPilot is suggesting other possible names.

[didac-adria]

I must say though, that for other cases, where you are writing an entire piece of code, its suggestions are awesome, but we all know that here :)

[DbdCopilotTrial]

YES

This needs to happen - its very frustrating seeing the correct bit if code pop up via intellisense only for co-pilot to override it with some nonsense a fraction of a second later.

[jasonswearingen]

Copilot in Visual Studio 2022 is unusable because it makes all other intellisense break.

• If split window, a copilot recommendation in window A stops all intellisense from occurring in window B
• If copilot is attempting to give a recommendation, all intellisense (including drop-downs) stop working until the copilot is accepted/dismissed
• If copilot is set to "Wait for pauses", things are manageable, until eventually in the coding session, somehow copilot forgets that this setting is checked and starts showing recommendations immediately. VS Ide Restart is needed to get it to wait again.

The poor "fit and finish" of this is astounding. I purchased and really want it to work. But it's a drain on my productivity, not a boon.

The group in charge of copilot must not use Visual Studio as their primary IDE, because these bugs only surface after hours of using the feature (like, it's internal state gets confused) and they don't get better regardless of how many updates are pushed out. If Visual Studio is supposed to be Microsoft's premiere IDE then these bugs should not exist, period.

2023-02-04 update (2 weeks later)
After 2 or 3 copilot extension updates, the same problems exist. With copilot enabled, intelisense stops working after a couple hours (copilot still works). With copilot disabled, intelisense works and does not stop working. Also disabling copilot via the "Disable Globally" option makes intelisense start working again, so copilot seems pretty likely to be the cause.

2023-02-18 update (2 weeks later)
Copilot seems better now? Will cautiously be optimistic. I haven't seen the freezes in the last few days. on v1.73.2.0 (VS 2022)

2023-03-02 update (2 weeks later)
Copilot still seems fine. yay!

[DbdCopilotTrial]

"if you have one activated, the other is deactivated. Thats how it should be."

Thats not whats happening, the op said "intelisense stops working after a couple hours" I'm reading that as he gets both for a while.

I also have this but in my case its co-pilot that stops working after a few hours, When both are working this is the kind of issue I have:

If I have a method public Transaction GetTransaction(int transId) which returns a Transaction object

public class Transaction {
    public int TransactionId {get; set;}
    public decimal Amount {get; set;}
}

When I type

var trans = GetTransaction(1);

var transactionIdentifier = trans.

I get intellisense popping up for a fraction of a second with TransactionId then Co-Pilot pops up with its suggestion of TransactionReference more often than not co-pilot pops up in the split second between me seeing the correct suggestion from intellisense and hitting tab which results in the non-existent property being written out.

I guess the issue is that intelisense is actually aware to a degree of the rest of my code (I'm guessing there is some static analysis going on in the background) but co-pilot is just making guesses based on what its seen in similar code in the past without having any kind of awareness of the rest of the code in the project.

[jasonswearingen]

Sometimes copilot stops working for me also.

And "if you have one activated, the other is deactivated" is NOT how it should be. That's why copilot has the option to "wait for pauses in typing before showing suggestions" which copilot only sometimes adheres to. It is so weird that so many parts of the extension break. I guess writing VS IDE extensions are that hard?

[koppishere]

Seems like a pretty big issue, I have disabled copilot for now due to it not working together with "." autocompletion. Had to press ESC then "." 2-3 times before I could toggle VSCODE autocomplete.

[whenmoon]

Imagine Microsoft developing three technologies - VSCode, TypeScript intellisense, and Copilot, but when you use them together they all constantly trying to override each other. So frustrating, so pointless. Considering cancelling my CP subscription.

[toyanghong]

想象一下，微软开发技术技术技术技术技术技术技术，，typesscript Intellisense和副本，copilot，但是但是你它们时时时时时时它们它们都会不断地地试图试图相互相互覆盖郁闷郁闷

我觉得非常棒 我会一直用下去。真的少写很多代码。。希望继续优化

[paularah]

This is still an issue. I'll take my code autocomplete over co-pilot

[alexhoodiai]

Please fix this issue. I don't mind having copilot taking over intellisense, but when you type the name of an object dot something, copilot MUST suggest a function / method that exist on that object, otherwise what's the point ???

I'm cancelling my subscription until that's fixed

[vadiole]

2.5 years🤡

[MKorostoff]

A simple work around for vscode is to hit control ^ + space to trigger the native auto suggest. This will cause co-pilot suggestions and native typescript intelisense to display simultaneously like so:

Hitting enter then accepts the typescript suggestion, while hitting tab accepts the copilot suggestion. This is all on a mac keyboard, not sure about the windows shortcut, but you can find it by looking up editor.action.triggerSuggest in your keyboard shortcut settings.

This is the default configuration, where co-pilot suggestions show automatically without prompting, while intelisense shows rarely unless explicitly prompted. If you would like to reverse this, so that intelisense shows automatically, and co-pilot shows only when prompted, you may do this by setting github.copilot.editor.enableAutoCompletions: false in your settings.json as described here:

(There is no way to change this setting through the GUI as of this writing. Note that many sources claim the setting to change is github.copilot.inlineSuggest.enable but as of August 2023 this is wrong, at least for Mac OS.)

Once you have done this, inline co-pilot suggestions will only display when you hit option ⌥ + \. They will display simultaneously with the intelisense suggestion if there is one, just like in my first screenshot above. They will have the same behavior as above, tab to accept co-pilot, enter to accept intelisense. You can of course rebind these shortcuts to anything you prefer, personally I configured co-pilot to offer suggestions only when I hit shift twice.

[andrewklingelhofer]

didn't realize you could do the ctrl + space trick. this is a life saver

[magnesj]

Any progress on this issue for Visual Studio 2022? Really a productivity killer.

[YkTru]

Yes that is TOTALLY stupid honnestly.... What a frustrating waste of time I can't believe almost 2 years later this BASIC need is not even fixed...

[ayim]

@magensj I wonder if your Copilot extension was having trouble autoupdating ... we first launched this functionality in late June.

Try installing the most recent VSIX from this page: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilotvs

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/github-copilot-visual-studio-intellisense/

[isidorn]

Hi, VS Code PM here 👋 @hediet has fixed this issue for VS Code 🎉
Can you all please try it with latest VS Code and latest Copilot and let us know if there are still issues that you are hitting. If yes, please describe precisely what seems to be the problem.

Thanks all 🙏

[vincentor]

#VScode Version
Version: 1.88.1
Commit: e170252f762678dec6ca2cc69aba1570769a5d39
Date: 2024-04-10T17:43:08.196Z
Electron: 28.2.8
ElectronBuildId: 27744544
Chromium: 120.0.6099.291
Node.js: 18.18.2
V8: 12.0.267.19-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 23.4.0

#Copilot version

Problem still

[ayim]

Wouldn't this accept printTable, then show the () afterwards?

[SzaboKrisztian]

Will do, and thank you 🙂

…

On Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 15:59 Isidor Nikolic ***@***.***> wrote: Hi, VS Code PM here 👋 @hediet <https://github.com/hediet> has fixed this issue for VS Code 🎉 Can you all please try it with latest VS Code and latest Copilot and let us know if there are still issues that you are hitting. If yes, please describe precisely what seems to be the problem. Thanks all 🙏 — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#7323 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADESAXRZEQPKG6BCVTE33RDX3Q2ZHANCNFSM5HMRSWMQ> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[YkTru]

As for the VS2022 issues still not resolved two years later we should all threaten to cancel our subscription to Copilot if it's not fixed within two months, we are paying $$$ for this and we must remember they stole A LOT from open source code efforts; THAT would get some attention, because clearly they don't give a damn.. Anyone have an idea, like a poll or a petition?

[alexhoodiai]

Stop threatening and just cancel your subscription. This is what I did 4 months ago. I will probably try it again in a year or two, but for now it was not worth the money I was paying for.

[ayim]

@YkTru I wonder if your Copilot extension was having trouble autoupdating ... we first launched this functionality in late June.

Try installing the most recent VSIX from this page: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilotvs

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/github-copilot-visual-studio-intellisense/

[stefaanv]

Same here, cancelled my subscription 6 months ago.
An AI pair programmer is only usefull if the pair programs faster than the human solo.
Today i.m.h.o that is not at all the case - partly because of the problem discussed in this ticket.
Microsoft has some more homework to do. I'll try again in a year or so.

[YkTru]

Thanks guys. Just cancelled mine too and will pay the extra $$ for chatgpt4 which does the work very well, and I encourage anyone to do the same until we get some respect from either MS or Github.

The idea is that if 1000+ users threaten to cancel the same day (lets say two months from today), that could get some attention otherwise we're kind of powerless.

Clearly if two years later they didnt resolve such a basic, fundamental issue, they won't anytime soon; are they even programmer using copilot, did they try? They should realise how it is broken and unworkable (the VS22 ChatCopilot is terrible too, but since it's recent it's ok but at least they could fix the formatting, it's just un-useable)

Resharper might end up saving the day as always, but it's a shame MS/Github aren't taking their responsibilities once again

[lilith]

I cannot understand why they are not prioritizing this

[ayim]

@lilith which languages are you writing code in?

We first launched this functionality in late June for C# and C++
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/github-copilot-visual-studio-intellisense/

[cmp-nct]

https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/92433#discussioncomment-8194827

Copilot became Junkpilot in the past month.
I've moved on to Continue.dev and I'm experimenting with local models

[octoxan]

Really need the ability to have native autocomplete and copilot set to different keys.

[vevovip]

This is a big problem, I canceled subscription.

[ayim]

@vevovip, sorry to hear that - which languages are you writing code in?

We first launched this functionality in late June 2023 for C# and C++
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/github-copilot-visual-studio-intellisense/

[Tabaie]

Is this being worked on?

[jasonswearingen]

I use vs2022. Something is very wrong with copilot.

I'm not sure what has changed, but I started a new project last month, and the value I get from github copilot is almost zero. It occasionally offers some auto-complete snippets, but at a much slower rate than what it did a year ago, and it seems a lot less aggressive at trying to offer blocks of code suggestions. Asking basic "complete this code block" to the copilot window almost universally offers poor/unusable results. This is a stark contrast to If I were to put the verbatim question to chatgpt, which provides an actual useful answer, even though chatgpt doesn't have the benefit of my codebase ?!?!?!?

Github copilot has regressed, and 3rd party options are stronger than ever. Sad, but I don't see any indication this will be reversed. I'm canceling my subscription.

[ayim]

Which version of VS2022 are you using and what language/type of projects are you building?
We're aware of some inconsistencies in the experience, have fixes in the works.

--
Aaron Yim
Product Manager for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio 2022
[email protected]

[YkTru]

Which version of VS2022 are you using and what language/type of projects are you building? We're aware of some inconsistencies in the experience, have fixes in the works.

-- Aaron Yim Product Manager for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio 2022 [email protected]

Yes of course... you were saying the SAME THING last year... still at gpt3 in VS2022, what a shame... it's ridiculous....

Also, how hard is it to make a browser so we can save our custom instruction/custom gpt presets? What are you getting paid for? There's nothing changed in the VS2022 copilot, it's still unusable, still a crappy old model, still no option to save custom instructions.

At least VSCode copilot shows some respect for its users...

[ayim]

Like I said below, please confirm your VS22 version and programming language.
We are using GPT4 for main chat window and have further settings that can improve the precision and accuracy of responses.

[jasonswearingen]

@ayim Thank you for the response... did you guys already make a change? For the last couple hours I see copilot is a LOT more responsive than it has been in the last month. (While I did cancel my subscription, I still have about 300 days left... 🤷 )

I am on VS2022 enterprise, 17.11.0. Project is a relatively large C# game (godot) R&D project , code metrics shows my primary project as:

• Maintainability Index: 85
• Cyclomatic Complexity: 4,591
• Depth of Inheritance: 9
• Class Coupling: 664
• Lines of Source code: 38,231
• Lines of Executable code: 10,040

with probably about 2x that amount in referenced library projects (not including nuget packages)

I haven't had the need to ask questions to the Copilot Chat window, so I don't know how that fares yet (it was very, very poor for the last month) but I am seeing noticeable improvements in copilot intellicode suggestions in the last couple hours. It's hard to say with only a couple hours, but I feel like it might be back to useful again.

If no changes have been made, it's one heck of a coincidence.

[ayim]

For completions, we had some bugfixes go into 17.11, more to come in the next release of Visual Studio.

For chat, I highly recommend using #solution to add solution awareness, or #reference to specify the files you want included.
I get much more accurate and precise results that way.

[YkTru]

[YkTru]

It's easy enough to change the log... but why would the chat itself say it's based on the gpt3 model? I mean, you can make the log say whatever you want. Why not "gpt5"? or 6?

[ayim]

As I mentioned, the model is not aware what it is unless we explicitly put it somewhere in the system prompt.
VSCode have done so and we are investigating doing the same upon the initialization.

[ayim]

If you are unhappy with the model results, are you....

1. Using # references to specify the files you want referenced?
2. Using #solution to add solution awareness to your prompts and answers?

[ayim]

@YkTru checking in here, did you either get a chance to try, or are you already using #references and #solution?

[YkTru]

Honestly, I don't feel comfortable using it anymore, I just copy and paste everything into gpt4o or code directly into VSCode, but when I use WPF I may try again.

Anyway, thanks for checking, I'll be sure to reply when I try again.