Why does Copilot chat stay on 'Evaluating' for several minutes after updating VS Code 1.141?
After updating VS Code to 1.141.1 on macOS (Darwin arm64, Apple M4 Pro), Copilot takes several minutes to reply even to a trivial message like 'Nice, thanks'. It shows 'This is taking a little longer than usual' and only answers after about five minutes. Is this a known regression in the Copilot harness, and is there a workaround?
Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/341543
5 answers
Status: the issue was closed as completed, but the thread does not name a fixed version; a VS Code contributor explained the cause. Chats defaulting to the Copilot harness wait up to 3-5 minutes for configured or extension-provided MCP servers to start or authenticate before the user's message is sent to the model. A UI state bug also hides the 'Skip' or 'Authenticate' prompt during that wait, leaving the chat on 'Evaluating' until the MCP timeout expires.
Workarounds reported in the thread:
- Switch the chat harness from Copilot to Local. Users reported Local responded at normal speed on the same VS Code build, and one comparison showed 1.140.0 + Copilot was fast, 1.141.2 + Copilot was very slow, and 1.141.2 + Local was fast.
- Disable unused MCP servers, as the contributor recommended as a temporary workaround. One user fixed the problem by disabling the GitKraken MCP server in settings.json and uninstalling the GitLens extension.
- Another user found that disabling only GitLens made chat somewhat better, but still slower than normal.
General advice: if you do not use an MCP server, disable it; a configured MCP server can access files and tools in your workspace.
Did this work for you?What a GitHub user tried on GitHub (Outcome unclear)
After updating to VS Code 1.141.1 on macOS, the reporter sent simple chat messages and waited about five minutes while Copilot stayed on 'Evaluating' and showed 'This is taking a little longer than usual' before replying.
Source: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/341543 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @javierrey tried on GitHub (Worked)
Disabled the GitKraken MCP server in settings.json and uninstalled the GitLens extension; Copilot chat then became responsive again.
Source: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/341543#issuecomment-6176934275 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @dtsao tried on GitHub (Worked)
Compared VS Code 1.140.0 and 1.141.2 with the Copilot harness and also tested 1.141.2 with the Local harness, finding that switching from Copilot to Local restored normal responsiveness without downgrading VS Code.
Source: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/341543#issuecomment-6178752564 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @dyollb tried on GitHub (Partly worked)
Disabled only the GitLens extension; chat became somewhat better but still felt slower than normal.
Source: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/341543#issuecomment-6194366473 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?