Longer history retention and/or export functionality for Copilot Chat on GitHub.com

[BrandonStudio]

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Currently, conversations in Copilot Chat are automatically deleted after 30 days, which can be frustrating when I want to revisit past discussions or keep a record of useful interactions. Sometimes, these conversations contain important insights or solutions that I’d like to reference later, but they’re gone before I get the chance.

It would be great if Copilot Chat could:

1. Keep conversation history longer — Maybe extend the retention period (to 1 year or forever) or let users pin certain conversations so they’re saved permanently.
2. Add an export option — Allow users to download their chat history. This would enable users keep a record locally. This is realized
3. Include all branches in exports — Copilot Chat supports branching when questions are modified or responses are regenerated. If an export feature is added, it should include all branches of the conversation, not just the final version. This way, users can preserve the full context of their interactions, including alternative paths explored during the discussion.

These changes would make Copilot Chat much more useful, especially for developers who rely on it for brainstorming, debugging, or learning.

UPDATE

The export button has been added

UPDATE 2

It seems that there is a new bug that your chat history is no longer displayed in the sidebar (appears empty). However, if you remember the thread id (GUID), you could still access the previous conversation, as long as it is not expired.

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[gregce]

[BrandonStudio]

I don't think this matches my requirements. I'm talking about chats on GitHub.com, not something inside VS Code or other IDEs

[BrandonStudio]

I found that GitHub does not even store the chat branches; it only keeps the latest version.
More frustratingly, even the shared chats will be deleted after 30 days, since first created.

For these concerns, I've written a Tampermonkey script to sync all chat history to a WebDAV server, in case anyone needs it
https://github.com/BrandonStudio/BrowserScripts/blob/main/github_copilot_sync.user.js

Note that the synchronization is one-way

[cm-fy]

it bothers me so much that I don't have persistent history on our interactions via github website.

is memory planned, do search web for this.
5 references
Copilot said: 21-Jul-2025 00:35 (GMT-3) Persistent chat history

21-Jul-2025 00:35 (GMT-3)

Persistent chat history (“memory”) for GitHub Copilot Chat on the website is a frequently requested feature, but as of now, there is no official support for permanent or long-term history. Conversations are not stored indefinitely, and there is no export or pinning functionality to save chats forever.

There are user discussions requesting:

Longer retention (e.g. 1 year or forever)
Pinning or saving specific conversations
Exporting chat history for local storage

But GitHub hasn’t announced a timeline or roadmap for these features yet.

[ER-ICS]

A longer history would really be helpful. It is actually frustating having only 30 days - the "free/public" chatgpt has an unknown history length, at least I haven't found something missing... Using a paid version of github copilot, this is a no-go. At least keeping the history (without further extension of chats) would already be a great benefit. Disk space should not be a limitation here :-)

[EngBuilds]

Other free accounts support unlimited history.
GitHub should either enable longer history support, OR
Should give a way to download the entire conversation in a way that can be fed back into a new conversation AND send emails about expiring conversations.

[ZiuChen]

If you’re looking for longer retention and enhanced management of Copilot Chat history on GitHub.com, I’d like to recommend Github Copilot Enhanced – a free Tampermonkey UserScript I developed to address these exact needs.

Key features:

• 📚 Long-term chat storage: Conversations are saved locally in your browser, beyond the official 30-day limit.
• 🔍 Powerful search: Quickly find past chats with real-time fuzzy search, keyword highlighting, and keyboard navigation.
• 🔄 Automatic sync: All chat history is regularly backed up in the background, so you won’t lose important discussions.
• 🔌 Seamless integration: The script transparently merges local history with Copilot’s server data – no extra setup required.

All data stays on your device and is never uploaded elsewhere.
Installation only takes a minute with Tampermonkey or any UserScript manager.

🔗 Learn more & install here

Hope this helps anyone frustrated by Copilot’s short chat history!

[OdyAsh]

Nice!

[LanceTrahan]

At the very least, if you have a Github Copilot Pro subscription, your chats should never be automatically deleted. It's beyond frustrating that I had solutions for tasks I was working on to simply disappear on me.

[ER-ICS]

This is really confusing - I have a github copilot business subscription which is paid by my company - is this something different than the copilot pro? Both has to be paid...

[BrandonStudio]

I think that he means that Pro subscruption SHOULD be eligible to have long-term history retention, which is not realized.

[LanceTrahan]

Correct, any paid account should have the expectation that your conversations should not expire.

[ER-ICS]

... and a search function would also make sense for the 30 days :-) this is missing, too and makes life more complicated

[OdyAsh]

up.

[BrandonStudio]

Update

The export buttom has been added, so we can at least save our conversation locally now.

[DahaDevops]

I’m a Pro user with an active subscription to Copilot on the web UI, and I’m honestly frustrated. I’m paying for this service, yet important features seem to be missing—especially something as basic as an archive option that would allow me to resume conversations from where I left off.

I wasn’t aware of the 30-day retention policy, and when I returned after that period, all my chats were gone. I’ve lost a significant amount of ongoing work, and now I’m forced to start everything from scratch. That’s incredibly disruptive and frustrating.

Previously, I was using ChatGPT, where my work was saved and easily accessible. I switched to Copilot Chat expecting a similar or better experience, but instead, I’ve lost everything, and rebuilding it from zero is a major headache.

At this point, I’m seriously considering going back to ChatGPT or exploring other chatbot options that offer better continuity and data retention.

[DahaDevops]

please do something about it atleast you can assign some specific GB for each user and let the user to delete the conversation he dont want

here is the policies from github

[BrandonStudio]

Update 2

It seems that there is a new bug that your chat history is no longer displayed in the sidebar (appears empty). However, if you remember the thread id (GUID), you could still access the previous conversation, as long as it is not expired.

[A-Stapleton]

As a business customer, paying a subscription we should certainly be able to keep chat histories until we delete them!

Does anyone at GitHub/Microsoft really think that all work relating to a specific issues in a business environment is completed within 28 days of initial exploration? Cos that's not even close to real life requirements.

[lakshmikanthanm-cybertech]

Upvoted

[madmacc]

I have just discovered this 30 day retention policy in VSCode github copilot chat.
https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-on-github/chat-with-copilot/chat-in-github#conversation-history-and-retention

I stopped some complex tasks halfway through over 4 weeks ago and just came back now and they are all gone.
This is going to be a huge amount of work to try and recover from this.
I'm on the pro plan. This is ridiculous, 30 days is nothing, surely they could at least be stored locally if space is the issue.

Any solutions to restore these chats or are they gone gone?

Not happy.

Update:
I noticed this issue was for chat on GitHub.com so I created one for VS Code here:
https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/156605

[jonokie]

I am a (former) Pro+ subscriber. I have lost significant amounts of work - without notice. There were no warnings, There were no notifications that past history would disappear. Suddenly, one day, the chats I needed weren't there. The notion that Microsoft/GitHub think this is ok tells you where they are in the AI lifecycle - they are not ready for it. This is a repeat of the internet in the 90s for them. To Microsoft, this is not a business function, it is a curiosity. They do not think serious work will be (or should be) committed to these tools. If they did, they would not have assigned their own development resources that think chats can simply be discarded after only 30 days without notice.

To whomever reads this at Microsoft, please be aware that some of us aren't testing AI. We are using it, daily, for our livelihoods. I would appreciate a reply when Copilot is ready to help people like me.