Microsoft/vscode

bug: Native support for fish shell in Copilot Chat: Multiline command handling and terminal stability

Open

#286146 opened on Jan 2, 2026

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 (5 comments) (1 reaction) (1 assignee)TypeScript (74,848 stars) (10,221 forks)batch import
feature-requesthelp wantedterminal-shell-fish

Description

Non-support of Fish Shell in GitHub Copilot Chat: Multiline Command Issues & Terminal Crashes

Problem Summary

Copilot Chat in VS Code does not natively support fish shell. This lack of support leads to significant friction when working with multiline shell commands, particularly for workflows commonly used with git or node and other tools that require structured multiline input.

For example, the intended way to commit with a multiline message would be:

git commit -m "
feat: Lorem Ipsum

- Lorem Ipsum
- Lorem Ipsum
"

But inside Copilot Chat (with fish), this must be rewritten as:

git commit -m "feat: Lorem Ipsum" -m "" -m "- Lorem Ipsum" -m "- Lorem Ipsum"

This workaround is unintuitive and easy to get wrong, especially for users who expect standard Unix multiline syntax. Defining expected terminal behavior in copilot-instructions.md or other config does not reliably resolve this issue.

Additional Issues

  • Sometimes the Copilot terminal process crashes when attempting such workarounds, resulting in lost connection between the chat and the integrated terminal.
  • Native fish shell features (composition, history, etc.) do not function as expected.

Request

  • Is there a plan to natively support fish shell in Copilot chat to improve seamless multiline command handling and stability?
  • Would supporting more shells (like fish) reduce errors and make cross-shell workflow more robust?

References (Related Issues and Discussions)

Contributor guide

Tech stack
typescriptnodejsshell
Domain
clideveloper experience
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
3-5 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
blocked
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Fish shell basicsVS Code extension development
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
30
Research direction
The issue is assigned to a VS Code team member (assignee visible). Begin by reviewing the Copilot Chat extension source code in the vscode copilot release repo (linked in the issue) to understand how shell detection and multiline command handling works. Examine the terminal integration code in the main VS Code repo, particularly the terminal shell detection and command execution paths. Check the referenced discussions and related issues for prior context. Then look for existing tests or configuration related to fish shell support. The fix likely requires updating the shell detection logic to recognize fish and properly handle multiline input, possibly by modifying the way Copilot Chat sends commands to the terminal.