Copilot Task Delegate VS Code Extension

This extension provides a set of Language Model Tools for Copilot agent mode, enabling one Copilot instance to initiate, monitor, and receive results from another asynchronous Copilot task.

It allows a primary Copilot agent to delegate a task to a secondary Copilot agent running in a separate chat session, track the progress of this sub-task, and retrieve its outcome.

Features

• Asynchronous Task Delegation: Copilot can start a new Copilot agent session (sub-agent) with a custom prompt without blocking its own execution.
• Session Tracking: Uses unique session IDs (UUIDs) to track each delegated task.
• Status Monitoring: Provides a tool for the primary agent to poll the status (pending, completed, error) of the sub-task.
• Result Retrieval: Allows the primary agent to retrieve the final result or error message from the completed sub-task.
• Completion Signaling: Includes a tool for the sub-agent to signal its completion or failure back to the tracking system.

Workflow

1. Initiation: The primary Copilot agent calls the copilot-task-delegate_start tool with a prompt.
2. Session ID: The tool immediately returns a unique sessionId (UUID) to the primary agent.
3. Sub-Agent Spawn: In the background, the extension prepares a modified prompt (instructing the sub-agent to report back upon completion using copilot-task-delegate_complete) and opens a new VS Code agent chat session with this prompt, effectively spawning the sub-agent.
4. Polling (Optional): The primary agent can periodically call the copilot-task-delegate_status tool with the sessionId to check if the sub-task is still pending or has finished.
5. Completion: Once the sub-agent completes its assigned task, it must call the copilot-task-delegate_complete tool, providing the original sessionId and either a result or an error message.
6. Result Retrieval: The primary agent calls copilot-task-delegate_status again. The status will now be completed or error, and the corresponding result or error message will be included in the response.

Provided Tools

• copilot-task-delegate_start
  • Purpose: Starts the asynchronous sub-agent task.
  • Input: prompt (string, Markdown supported).
  • Output: Confirmation message with the unique sessionId (string, UUID).
• copilot-task-delegate_status
  • Purpose: Checks the status and result/error of a sub-agent task.
  • Input: sessionId (string, UUID).
  • Output: JSON string representing the current state ({status: 'pending'|'completed'|'error', result?: any, error?: string, startTime: number}).
• copilot-task-delegate_complete
  • Purpose: Used by the sub-agent to signal completion or failure.
  • Input: sessionId (string, UUID), result (string, optional), error (string, optional). One of result or error must be provided.
  • Output: Confirmation message.

Usage

This extension is designed for interaction between Copilot agents via tool calling. Direct user invocation of these tools is not the intended use case.

Example Usage Scenario

A primary agent could be configured with a persona prompt to manage complex tasks by delegating them to sub-agents. See the example prompt file:

• commander.prompt.md

This example prompt ("Experimental Commander") outlines how a primary agent might:

1. Break down a large task.
2. Use copilot-task-delegate_start to initiate sub-tasks.
3. Instruct the sub-agent on context, scope, and the requirement to call copilot-task-delegate_complete upon finishing.
4. Potentially use copilot-task-delegate_status to monitor progress.

Packaging

To build a VSIX package:

npm run vsix

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later