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plugin update and reinstall do not pull fresh code on Windows — restores from local cache instead #3627
Description
Environment
- OS: Windows
- Copilot CLI version: 1.0.57
- Reproduced with plugin:
https://github.com/upld-internal/burnrate-copilot.git
Description
On Windows, Copilot CLI stores installed plugins in two locations:
%USERPROFILE%\.copilot\installed-plugins\_direct\<slug>\%LOCALAPPDATA%\copilot\marketplaces\<slug>\
Running /plugin update <name>, or uninstalling and reinstalling, does not re-clone from GitHub. It restores files from the %LOCALAPPDATA%\copilot\marketplaces\<slug>\ cache. Plugin updates are never applied.
Steps to reproduce
- Install a plugin:
/plugin install https://github.com/upld-internal/burnrate-copilot.git - Push a change to the plugin's GitHub repo
- Run
/plugin update burnrate-copilot(or uninstall and reinstall) - Check file timestamps:
dir "%USERPROFILE%\.copilot\installed-plugins\_direct\https---github-com-upld-internal-burnrate-copilot-git\scripts\" - Files retain the original install timestamp — updated code is never pulled
Expected behavior
/plugin update re-clones or pulls from GitHub and installs the latest code.
Actual behavior
Both cache directories retain the original install content. Even after manually deleting installed-plugins\_direct\<slug>\ and reinstalling, files are restored from the marketplaces cache rather than fetched from GitHub.
Workaround
Manually delete both cache directories before reinstalling:
%USERPROFILE%\.copilot\installed-plugins\_direct\<slug>
%LOCALAPPDATA%\copilot\marketplaces\<slug>
Activity
spaltrowitz commentedon Jul 1, 2026
Confirming this reproduces on macOS + the GitHub Copilot app too — not Windows-specific.
Same root cause:
plugin updaterestores from the local marketplace cache rather than re-fetching from GitHub, so a version bump in the repo is never picked up. The only thing that pulls fresh code iscopilot plugin marketplace update <marketplace>(or deleting the cache dir) followed by reinstall —plugin updatealone is a no-op.Real-world impact: a teammate installed our plugin, we shipped fixes, and
plugin updatereported "already at latest" while serving stale content — they had no signal they were behind. Worth surfacing an actionable hint (or havingplugin updatere-fetch the marketplace) so consumers aren't silently stale. Related: #3331 (auto-update flag).patniko commentedon Oct 26, 2026
Thanks for the report. We've shipped fixes in this area since this was filed (most recently in Copilot CLI v1.0.81), and we believe this may now be resolved. Could you retest on the latest release (Copilot CLI v1.0.103) and let us know whether you still see it? If we don't hear back in a couple of weeks, we may close this issue — you can always reopen it.
Triaged as part of a Copilot SDK backlog review, with help from GitHub Copilot.