Copilot Chatbot (WPF)

Desktop chat client for GitHub Copilot built with WPF and .NET 9 on Windows.

It provides a tabbed chat UI, session restore, model selection, reasoning effort controls, permission prompts, local slash shortcuts, MCP/agent/skill visibility, encrypted local settings, and rich Markdown/HTML rendering through WebView2.

Features

• Multi-tab chat sessions with per-tab system prompts
• Two-level chat grouping: projects contain child sessions, while ungrouped sessions live under the Default project
• Saved chat sessions restored on startup, with debounced background persistence and default scroll-to-bottom positioning
• Icon-enhanced tab context menus for renaming, closing, moving sessions between projects, and reordering tabs
• Per-tab status indicators:
  • Busy spinner while Copilot is thinking or running tools
  • Typing indicator while a response is streaming
  • Input-required marker when Copilot is waiting for a permission, choice, or freeform response
  • Unread marker and bold title for background responses
• Live model discovery from GitHub Copilot SDK
• Per-chat model and reasoning effort selection for models that support it
• Chat navigation controls:
  • Scroll to top and bottom
  • Jump to previous and next user question
  • Expand or collapse all message articles
  • Optional per-session auto-collapse of the previous top-level article when sending a new prompt
• Turn-based response display, where all responses for a prompt are grouped under the user message
• Expanding any collapsed user turn opens the latest assistant response in that turn when the nested articles are all collapsed
• User messages include an inline copy button for copying the original prompt text to the Windows clipboard
• User and assistant message articles can be deleted from chat history, with user-message deletion removing the whole grouped turn
• Project-level tab groups can be collapsed and restored with their collapsed/expanded state
• Project tab groups and child session tabs can be moved to top, moved up/down, or moved to bottom within their current level
• Activity bar for transient Copilot status such as reasoning, tool execution, background agent progress, and shortcut activity
• Tool and permission workflow:
  • Folder access rules (read/read-write)
  • Allowed tools and hosts lists
  • Saved permission rules
  • Per-command shell approvals for Copilot SDK shell permission requests
  • Permission and user-input requests appear as interactive chat history articles instead of separate modal dialogs
  • Choice prompts can be answered by clicking a choice; choices are displayed one per line
  • Prompts that allow freeform input include an optional answer box and do not highlight a suggested choice as the default
  • Answered prompt articles disable their controls and collapse by default
  • Memory permission toggle through /memory
  • Agent selection through /agent
• GitHub token and user secrets with show/hide controls
• Optional settings password for AES-256 encryption of sensitive settings
• User secrets mapped to environment variables for Copilot CLI and MCP servers
• Configurable working directory for Copilot CLI execution
• MCP server, agent, and skill capability view
• Local slash shortcuts for inspecting or changing runtime state
• Extra agent and skill folder configuration
• Project headers toggle their child tab visibility when clicked
• Scheduled automation tasks with cron expressions, manual runs, run history, optional pre/post commands, Copilot steps, and file/HTTP/named-pipe handoff
• Light, dark, system, and follow-the-sun theme options, including themed capability dialogs and chat scrollbars
• Optional Windows tray notifications when Copilot needs user input
• Optional debug logging
• Markdown rendering, collapsible message cards, response pop-out windows, embedded HTML previews, iframe preview pop-out windows, and restored iframe preview heights
• Custom application icon and Windows .ico packaging

Tech Stack

• .NET 9 (net9.0-windows)
• WPF
• GitHub.Copilot.SDK
• Microsoft.Web.WebView2
• Markdig
• WPF-UI
• Windows Forms NotifyIcon for tray notifications

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• .NET 9 SDK
• GitHub account with Copilot access
• A GitHub token configured in-app (the app UI references a token with copilot scope)

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository.
2. Restore and build:

dotnet restore .\CopilotChatbot.sln
dotnet build .\CopilotChatbot.sln -c Debug

3. Run the app:

dotnet run --project .\CopilotChatbot\CopilotChatbot.csproj

To pass a Copilot session token for the current app run without saving it to settings:

dotnet run --project .\CopilotChatbot\CopilotChatbot.csproj -- --gh-token ghp_XXXX

First-Time Setup

Open Settings in the app and configure:

• GitHub token
• Optional settings password for encrypting saved GitHub credentials and user secrets
• Optional working directory (defaults to your user profile folder)
• Optional user secrets (Name, Environment Variable, Value)
• Optional permission defaults and allow-lists
• Optional default system prompt
• Optional extra agent and skill folders
• Preferred appearance/theme
• Default auto-collapse behavior for new chat sessions
• Optional tray notifications for permission, choice, and feedback prompts
• Optional debug logging

Then use Refresh Models to fetch available models from the Copilot runtime.

Settings Password

If a settings password is configured, the app derives an AES-256 key from that password and a built-in salt. The key is kept only in memory for the current app session.

• The password itself is not written to settings.json.
• On startup, encrypted settings trigger a password prompt.
• If the password is wrong or cancelled, the app warns and starts with blank settings for that session.
• Clearing the settings password in Settings and saving writes the GitHub token and user secret values as plaintext.
• Existing legacy DPAPI-encrypted user secrets can still be read and are rewritten using the active save mode.

Local Slash Shortcuts

Shortcuts are handled locally by the app and are not sent as chat prompts.

• /mcp - show registered MCP servers, their status, and reported tools.
• /agent - start the tab's Copilot session if needed, show available user-invocable agents, enable or disable them for this chat, and select the current session's default agent from an in-chat prompt card.
• /cwd - show the effective Copilot CLI working directory.
• /cwd <folder> - set the Copilot CLI working directory. Quoted paths, relative paths, ., and ~ are supported.
• /env - show Copilot-relevant environment details. Token values are redacted.
• /memory - show the current long-term memory permission state.
• /memory on - approve memory permission requests automatically across sessions.
• /memory off - reject memory permission requests automatically across sessions.
• /reset - reset the current tab's Copilot conversation context while keeping the visible chat history.
• /usage - show the latest Copilot usage and quota snapshot (tokens, requests, remaining, reset date).

In-Chat Prompts

Copilot permission requests and user-response requests are rendered directly inside the chat history as prompt articles.

• Permission prompts provide Deny, Allow once, Allow for session, and Save setting actions.
• Choice prompts can be answered by clicking a choice button, with each choice shown on its own line.
• Prompts that allow freeform input show an optional textbox alongside choice buttons.
• Agent prompts show an enabled-agent checklist and a default-agent dropdown; submitting applies the selection to the current Copilot session.
• When freeform input is allowed, suggested choices are not visually highlighted as the default response.
• Once answered, prompt controls are disabled, the submitted answer is recorded, and the article collapses by default.
• The tab shows an input-required marker while a prompt is waiting.
• If tray notifications are enabled in Settings > Appearance, Windows shows a tray balloon when input is required.

Unanswered prompt articles restored from a previous app run are marked expired because their original SDK request is no longer active.

Scheduled Tasks

Use Scheduler in the main window to create repeatable automation tasks.

Tasks can be manual-only or scheduled with a cron expression. Each task can run:

• An optional pre-command
• An optional Copilot prompt, either in a hidden one-shot session or bound to an existing chat tab by title
• An optional post-command
• An optional handoff to a file, HTTP endpoint, or named pipe

Task templates support values such as {{pre_output}}, {{copilot_response}}, {{copilot_response_file}}, {{task_name}}, {{run_id}}, and {{timestamp}}.

The scheduler keeps the latest run records per task and exposes them through the task history window.

Configuration and Data Files

The app stores local configuration under:

• %APPDATA%\CopilotChatbot\settings.json
• %APPDATA%\CopilotChatbot\chat-sessions.json.gz
• %APPDATA%\CopilotChatbot\scheduler-runs\...

If debug logging is enabled, logs are written to:

• %APPDATA%\CopilotChatbot\debug-YYYY-MM-DD.log

Sensitive values in settings.json are encrypted only when a settings password is active. Otherwise, the GitHub token and user secret values are stored as plaintext.

Chat sessions are still saved as a flat session list for backward compatibility. Group-aware versions add project metadata, project order, per-session project ids, per-project collapsed state, per-session tab order, and per-session UI preferences such as previous-article auto-collapse; older app versions can ignore that metadata and open the same sessions as unrelated flat tabs.

MCP Notes

• The app loads user MCP server config from:
  • ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json
  • %APPDATA%\GitHub Copilot\mcp-config.json
  • <working-dir>/.github/copilot/mcp.json
  • <working-dir>/.copilot/mcp-config.json
• A default read-only GitHub MCP server is added when missing and is also available as a bundled fallback.
• Existing MCP server entries are not overwritten; server names are first-wins.
• The default GitHub MCP server uses https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/readonly and keeps Authorization: Bearer $env:GITHUB_TOKEN in config so the Copilot SDK/runtime can resolve the environment variable.
• The saved GitHub token is injected into the child process as GITHUB_TOKEN; --gh-token is used only for the Copilot session token.
• The configured working directory is where Copilot CLI runs.
• Project-level Copilot/MCP config is typically resolved relative to the working directory.
• Agents and skills are loaded from the default Copilot locations plus any extra folders configured in Settings.

Default agent and skill locations shown by the app:

• ~/.copilot/agents
• <working-dir>/.github/agents
• ~/.copilot/skills
• <working-dir>/.github/skills

Project Structure

• CopilotChatbot/ - WPF application
• CopilotChatbot/Services/ - runtime services (Copilot client, rendering, settings, logging)
• CopilotChatbot/Services/LocalShortcutService.cs - local slash shortcut registry and handlers
• CopilotChatbot/Models/ - settings and chat data models
• CopilotChatbot/Assets/ - application icon and bundled MCP server metadata
• CopilotChatbot/MainWindow.* - main chat UI and interaction logic
• CopilotChatbot/ChatTabContent.* - per-tab chat input, status, and navigation controls
• CopilotChatbot/SettingsWindow.* - settings UI and persistence wiring
• CopilotChatbot/SettingsPasswordWindow.* - startup unlock prompt for encrypted settings
• CopilotChatbot/SchedulerWindow.* - scheduled task editor and manual run controls
• CopilotChatbot/SchedulerHistoryWindow.* - scheduled task run history viewer
• CopilotChatbot/ResponseWindow.* - full response pop-out viewer
• CopilotChatbot/IframePreviewWindow.* - embedded HTML iframe pop-out viewer
• .github/workflows/dotnet-desktop.yml - GitHub Actions desktop publish and release workflow
• .github/workflows/dotnet-build.yaml - manual GitHub Actions solution build workflow

Troubleshooting

• No models appear:
  • Verify token and Copilot entitlement.
  • Open Settings and confirm Working Directory is valid.
  • Click Refresh Models again.
• MCP tools do not appear:
  • Run /mcp to inspect the registered MCP servers and tools.
  • Run /cwd to confirm project-level MCP config is being resolved from the expected folder.
• Authentication or connection failures:
  • Re-check token value in Settings.
  • To use a Copilot session token for one run, start with --gh-token ghp_XXXX.
  • If settings are encrypted, restart and confirm the startup settings password unlocks successfully.
  • Confirm network/proxy restrictions do not block Copilot CLI.
• Memory requests are rejected:
  • Run /memory to check the current state.
  • Run /memory on if you want Copilot memory writes/votes to be approved automatically.
• Web content not rendering:
  • Ensure WebView2 runtime is available and updated on the machine.
• UI slows while responses stream:
  • Chat updates and session saves are throttled, but very large HTML previews can still be expensive to render in WebView2.
  • Use the iframe pop-out button for large embedded previews.
• Input prompt does not seem active:
  • Look for the input-required marker on the tab.
  • Expand the latest prompt article in that chat tab.
  • Restored unanswered prompt articles are historical only and cannot be submitted after restart.
• Tray notifications do not appear:
  • Confirm Settings > Appearance > Show tray notifications when Copilot needs a response is enabled.
  • Check Windows notification/focus assist settings if the tray icon is visible but balloons are suppressed.
• Scheduled task does not run:
  • Confirm the task is enabled and the cron expression is valid.
  • Use Run Now to separate scheduler timing problems from command or Copilot failures.
  • Check the task history window for captured output and errors.
• Manual GitHub Actions run does not start:
  • Confirm Actions are enabled for the repository.
  • Confirm the workflow exists on the default branch at .github/workflows/dotnet-build.yaml.
  • Check GitHub Status if the UI reports that the workflow could not be queued.

Build Configuration

Current project defaults (from CopilotChatbot.csproj):

• TargetFramework: net9.0-windows
• RuntimeIdentifier: win-x64
• UseWPF: true
• UseWindowsForms: true
• SelfContained: false
• ApplicationIcon: Assets\AppIcon.ico

GitHub Actions

The repository includes two Windows GitHub Actions workflows.

Desktop Publish Workflow

.github/workflows/dotnet-desktop.yml:

• Runs on pushes to main
• Runs on pull requests targeting main
• Restores and publishes CopilotChatbot/CopilotChatbot.csproj
• Uses .NET 9 on windows-latest
• Publishes a self-contained single-file win-x64 build
• Uploads CopilotChatbot-win-x64.zip as a build artifact
• Creates a release named Build <run_number> with tag build-<run_number> on main

Manual Build Workflow

.github/workflows/dotnet-build.yaml:

• Can be started manually from the GitHub Actions UI
• Restores and builds CopilotChatbot.sln
• Uses .NET 9 on windows-latest

Build versioning uses:

• VERSION_PREFIX repository variable, defaulting to 1.0
• github.run_number as the final build number

For example, with VERSION_PREFIX=1.0, workflow runs produce versions like:

• 1.0.1
• 1.0.2
• 1.0.3

Set the prefix in:

Repository Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions > Variables
Name: VERSION_PREFIX
Value: 1.0

License

This project uses an MIT-style non-commercial license. See LICENSE.

Note: this is not the standard OSI MIT License because commercial use is restricted.