Deep visibility into GitHub Copilot prompt execution sessions — tools, files, commands, context, tokens, and estimated cost — in a local-first Activity Bar UI.
Installation
Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.
See exactly what GitHub Copilot did in every chat session — tools called, files touched,
commands run, context assembled, tokens used, and estimated cost — right in your Activity Bar.
Features
Session timeline — a visual, segmented timeline of every Copilot Chat session, showing each
step (prompt, tool call, file read, command run) in order.
Drill-down detail — click any step to see exactly what happened: which tool ran, which files
were read or edited, which terminal commands executed, and how context was assembled.
Token usage & cost analytics — see token consumption per session and step, plus an
estimated dollar cost and credit usage based on your own configurable pricing.
Search & filters — quickly find sessions or steps by keyword, tool, file, or date.
Export — export any session for sharing or record-keeping.
Local-first & private — everything is stored on your machine. Nothing is uploaded anywhere,
and there is no telemetry.
Getting started
Install the extension and open the Copilot Inspector icon in the Activity Bar.
Run the command Copilot Inspector: Enable Copilot Telemetry (OTel) from the Command
Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P), then reload the window. This turns on Copilot's
built-in, official telemetry so Inspector can capture accurate token counts, tool calls, and
timings.
Use Copilot Chat as you normally would. Your sessions will start appearing automatically in the
Inspector view.
Prefer not to enable telemetry? Copilot Inspector still works using lower-fidelity signals such
as terminal activity and file changes, but session detail and token accuracy will be reduced.
Try it with sample data
Want to explore the UI before enabling telemetry? Run Copilot Inspector: Load Sample Data
from the Command Palette to populate the view with example sessions.
Managing your data
Copilot Inspector: Export Session… — export a session's details.
Copilot Inspector: Delete Session — remove a single session.
Copilot Inspector: Delete All Inspector Data — wipe everything Copilot Inspector has
stored.
All settings (pricing, retention, which capture sources are enabled) are available under
Settings → Extensions → Copilot Inspector.
Privacy
Copilot Inspector stores all data locally on your machine. Nothing is sent externally, and there
is no telemetry collection by the extension itself. Costs and credit usage shown are always
estimates based on pricing you configure — Copilot does not expose real billing data.
