copilot-session-sync

MCP server that syncs GitHub Copilot CLI and VS Code sessions across machines via a private GitHub repository.

How It Works

Your Copilot sessions live in ~/.copilot/session-state/ and ~/.copilot/session-store.db. This MCP server syncs them to a private {username}/.copilot repository on GitHub, so you can access the same sessions from any machine or Codespace.

• Bidirectional sync — pushes new/updated local sessions and pulls new/updated remote sessions
• Session-level merge — uses updated_at timestamps from workspace.yaml to determine which side wins
• DB merge — row-level merge of the session-store.db SQLite database with FTS5 index rebuild
• Auto-creates the .copilot private repo if it doesn't exist

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 20
• GitHub CLI (gh) authenticated, or GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable

Install

cd copilot-sync
npm install
npm run build

Configure for GitHub Copilot CLI

Add to your Copilot CLI MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "copilot-session-sync": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/copilot-sync/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Configure for VS Code

Add to your VS Code settings.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "copilot-session-sync": {
        "command": "node",
        "args": ["/path/to/copilot-sync/dist/index.js"]
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools

sync_sessions

Bidirectional sync of all sessions. Compares local and remote by session ID and timestamps.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |-----------|------|-------------| | dry_run | boolean (optional) | Preview what would be synced without making changes |

list_remote_sessions

Lists all sessions (local and remote) with their sync status.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |-----------|------|-------------| | filter | string (optional) | Filter by summary text or repository name |

Status icons:

• ✅ Synced
• 📤 Local only
• 📥 Remote only
• ⬆️ Local newer
• ⬇️ Remote newer

pull_session

Pull a specific session from the remote repo.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |-----------|------|-------------| | session_id | string (required) | UUID of the session to pull |

push_session

Push a specific local session to the remote repo.

| Parameter | Type | Description | |-----------|------|-------------| | session_id | string (required) | UUID of the session to push |

sync_status

Show sync status overview — last sync time, session counts, what needs syncing.

Usage Examples

From Copilot CLI or VS Code chat:

> Sync my copilot sessions
> Show me what sessions need syncing
> List my remote sessions
> Pull session abc12345-...
> Push the current session to remote

Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | Default | |----------|-------------|---------| | GITHUB_TOKEN | GitHub personal access token | Falls back to gh auth token | | GITHUB_USER | GitHub username | Auto-detected from token | | COPILOT_HOME | Path to Copilot config directory | ~/.copilot | | COPILOT_SYNC_REPO | Name of the sync repository | .copilot |

Architecture

~/.copilot/
├── session-state/          ← synced
├── session-store.db        ← synced (row-level merge)
├── sync-cache/             ← local clone of the remote repo
├── config.json             ← NOT synced (machine-specific)
└── logs/                   ← NOT synced

The sync cache (~/.copilot/sync-cache/) is a local git clone of the remote repo. It's reused across syncs for efficiency.

License

MIT