Github Copilot Chat: invalid token error

[kv9898]

I have been really excited about the support of GitHub Copilot Chat through #9256. I immediately built Positron from source (on Windows) and encountered the following error:

2025-09-05 17:18:14.932 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Initializing Git extension service.
2025-09-05 17:18:14.932 [info] Using the Electron fetcher.
2025-09-05 17:18:14.932 [error] TypeError: Cannot use 'in' operator to search for '*' in true
    at new NesActivationTelemetryContribution (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\inlineEdits\common\nesActivationStatusTelemetry.contribution.ts:18:32)
    at _InstantiationService._createInstance (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\util\vs\platform\instantiation\common\instantiationService.ts:171:18)
    at _InstantiationService.createInstance (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\util\vs\platform\instantiation\common\instantiationService.ts:137:18)
    at create (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\common\contributions.ts:35:32)
    at _InstantiationService.invokeFunction (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\util\vs\platform\instantiation\common\instantiationService.ts:118:11)
    at new ContributionCollection (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\common\contributions.ts:53:29)
    at _InstantiationService._createInstance (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\util\vs\platform\instantiation\common\instantiationService.ts:171:18)
    at _InstantiationService.createInstance (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\util\vs\platform\instantiation\common\instantiationService.ts:137:18)
    at e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\extension\vscode\extension.ts:86:46
    at baseActivate (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\extension\vscode\extension.ts:71:2)
    at ActivationOperation._activate (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostExtensionActivator.ts:423:18)
    at ActivationOperation._waitForDepsThenActivate (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostExtensionActivator.ts:418:3)
    at ActivationOperation._initialize (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostExtensionActivator.ts:380:3): Error while loading contribution
2025-09-05 17:18:14.933 [warning] Copilot API is undefined, unable to register context provider.
2025-09-05 17:18:16.755 [info] Logged in as kv9898
2025-09-05 17:18:17.114 [warning] Invalid copilot token: missing token: 404 
2025-09-05 17:18:17.120 [error] Error: Failed to get copilot token
    at VSCodeCopilotTokenManager._authShowWarnings (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\vscode-node\copilotTokenManager.ts:115:10)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at VSCodeCopilotTokenManager.getCopilotToken (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\vscode-node\copilotTokenManager.ts:49:25)
    at AuthenticationService.getCopilotToken (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\common\authentication.ts:209:18)
    at AuthUpgradeAsk.waitForChatEnabled (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\authentication\vscode-node\authentication.contribution.ts:50:25)
    at AuthUpgradeAsk.run (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\authentication\vscode-node\authentication.contribution.ts:43:3)
    at AuthenticationContrib.askToUpgradeAuthPermissions (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\authentication\vscode-node\authentication.contribution.ts:23:3): Failed to get copilot token
2025-09-05 17:18:17.120 [error] GitHub Copilot could not connect to server. Extension activation failed: "Failed to get copilot token"
2025-09-05 17:18:17.120 [warning] [LanguageModelAccess] LanguageModel/Embeddings are not available without auth token
2025-09-05 17:18:17.120 [error] Error: Failed to get copilot token
    at VSCodeCopilotTokenManager._authShowWarnings (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\vscode-node\copilotTokenManager.ts:115:10)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at VSCodeCopilotTokenManager.getCopilotToken (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\vscode-node\copilotTokenManager.ts:49:25)
    at AuthenticationService.getCopilotToken (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\common\authentication.ts:209:18)
    at LanguageModelAccess._getAuthSession (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\conversation\vscode-node\languageModelAccess.ts:244:4)
    at update2 (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\conversation\vscode-node\languageModelAccess.ts:214:9)
    at LanguageModelAccess._registerEmbeddings (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\conversation\vscode-node\languageModelAccess.ts:239:3)
    at async Promise.all (index 1)
    at async Promise.allSettled (index 1)
    at ContributionCollection.waitForActivationBlockers (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\common\contributions.ts:74:3)
    at e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\extension\vscode\extension.ts:88:3
    at baseActivate (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\extension\vscode\extension.ts:71:2)
    at ActivationOperation._activate (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostExtensionActivator.ts:423:18)
    at ActivationOperation._waitForDepsThenActivate (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostExtensionActivator.ts:418:3)
    at ActivationOperation._initialize (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostExtensionActivator.ts:380:3)
2025-09-05 17:18:17.121 [warning] [LanguageModelAccess] LanguageModel/Embeddings are not available without auth token
2025-09-05 17:18:17.121 [error] Error: Failed to get copilot token
    at VSCodeCopilotTokenManager._authShowWarnings (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\vscode-node\copilotTokenManager.ts:115:10)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)
    at VSCodeCopilotTokenManager.getCopilotToken (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\vscode-node\copilotTokenManager.ts:49:25)
    at AuthenticationService.getCopilotToken (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\platform\authentication\common\authentication.ts:209:18)
    at LanguageModelAccess._getAuthSession (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\conversation\vscode-node\languageModelAccess.ts:244:4)
    at LanguageModelAccess._prepareLanguageModelChat (e:\positron\extensions\positron-copilot-chat\src\extension\conversation\vscode-node\languageModelAccess.ts:95:19)
    at ExtHostLanguageModels.$prepareLanguageModelProvider (file:///e:/positron/out/vs/workbench/api/common/file:/E:/positron/src/vs/workbench/api/common/extHostLanguageModels.ts:243:28)
2025-09-05 17:18:17.121 [info] activationBlocker from 'languageModelAccess' took for 3772ms
2025-09-05 17:18:17.648 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Successfully activated the vscode.git extension.
2025-09-05 17:18:17.648 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Enablement state of the vscode.git extension: true.
2025-09-05 17:18:17.648 [info] [GitExtensionServiceImpl] Successfully registered Git commit message provider.

[juliasilge]

We also are very excited about this! 🎉

This addition did make our system for getting a dev build up and running more complex, and we are still figuring things out ourselves. We likely need to document this better, to support external contributors like you!

In the meantime, we hope to make Copilot Chat available in a daily build within the next working day or two; it's not yet ready to go in today's daily build.