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[Feature request] Add setting to disable agent checkpoint refs (refs/agents/*) #5323
Description
Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve
Every agent turn creates a commit under refs/agents/<session-id>/checkpoints/turn/N in the user's repository. These refs: - are authored with the user's own git identity (user.name/user.email) - appear in any tool that renders all refs (e.g. GitLens Commit Graph), burying the user's actual history under dozens of "Agent host session" rows - cannot be disabled via any exposed setting - checkpoints are created even for read-only turns, which makes the noise-to-value ratio worst exactly for users who never let the agent write.
Proposed solution
A configuration option (e.g. agent.checkpoints.enabled: false) to disable
git-ref checkpointing entirely, or alternatively:
- store checkpoints outside the repository (e.g. under ~/.copilot/), or
- use a distinct bot identity so they can be filtered by author, or
- clean up refs automatically when a session ends
Environment
- VS Code <1,144.0>, Copilot agent host (vscode-agent-host client)
- full: Version: 1.144.0
Commit: 2c33b50b16c472efe58357d1d2a8a5414bc23fbf
Date: 2026-10-27T20:18:03Z
Electron: 43.8.3
ElectronBuildId: 15784459
Chromium: 150.0.7871.250
Node.js: 24.22.1
V8: 15.0.245.31-electron.0
@github/copilot: 1.0.103.r40031404408.gba6c003
@github/copilot-sdk: 1.0.27.40031404408.gba6c003
OS: Linux x64 6.8.0-138-generic snap - Repro: run any agent session in a git repo, then
git for-each-ref refs/agents
Example prompts or workflows
No response
Additional context
No response
Reacted by TeBeCo
Activity
tebeco commentedon Nov 4, 2026
this is ultra annoying and severly poluting
in the meanwhile, how to list or yeet that shit:
Simon-Hayden-Dev commentedon Nov 9, 2026
You can filter those commits by adding
--exclude='refs/agents/*/checkpoints/turn/*'togit log. Just in case you don't want to flat-out delete the commits, in case they become useful at some point 😄This is especially useful if anybody happens to use the GitLG VSCode extension. Toggle the
Configure...dropdown at the top left corner and then add--exclude=...before the--allflag.tebeco commentedon Nov 9, 2026
to be clear it's nice to filter etc ...
though it's just utterly polluting if you run 20 session per day over 20 repo
i don't want to filter these
i want these to never exists by default
Simon-Hayden-Dev commentedon Nov 9, 2026
Yeah I get that point and fully agree. What's even worse IMO, is that it's so silent. I didn't even find a blog post or release notes mentioning that this is going to happen from now on...
For now, I just don't want to delete them just in case they actually serve a useful purpose and/or deleting them breaks something 🤷
tebeco commentedon Nov 9, 2026
because
you can't even disable worktree by default iirc in copilot app, which is seriously bad also
pick your poison