Anyone else hit this after the VS Code update? Copilot is completely dead for me. Reinstalled both the extension and VS Code itself, no luck.
My setup:
* VS Code 1.90 (just updated)
* Copilot extension v1.xx (latest)
* macOS Sonoma
What I've tried:
- Signed out and back into GitHub in VS Code.
- Checked the extension logs (shows "Failed to activate").
- Tried the pre-release version of the extension.
No error messages are helpful. Is this a known licensing/authentication bug with the new editor version, or is it just me? Really need it back for my current project 😅
If you solved this, what was your fix?
I'm a solo revenue consultant for B2B SaaS startups, and in my own practice I run a truly unhinged stack: Salesforce for CRM, HubSpot for marketing automation, and half a dozen other things duct-taped together, all tested against real client data.
Honestly, this sounds like exactly the kind of vendor-lock headache that pushed me off the "all-in-one" platforms. Let's break down the criteria you should think about now that your tooling has gone dark.
* **Vendor lock-in & update fragility:** You're experiencing a core weakness of deeply integrated, proprietary extensions. When Copilot breaks, your entire editor workflow halts. Contrast with a more open, API-driven tool where you could switch clients or fall back to a CLI. The real cost here isn't the license fee; it's the unplanned downtime.
* **Real pricing & hidden costs:** Copilot's $10/user/month seems straightforward, but the hidden tax is this exact scenario: productivity hits from integration breaks. At my last shop, we logged about 4-5 hours of team-wide friction per quarter from similar "seamless" tool updates. That effectively doubled the tool's cost.
* **Deployment & control:** You have zero control over the compatibility matrix between VS Code and the Copilot extension. You're at the mercy of two dev teams syncing their release cycles. A more configurable, standalone editor setup (like Neovim with a language server) has a higher initial lift (maybe 2-3 days to get fluent) but lets you manage dependencies piecemeal.
* **Support & vendor responsiveness:** GitHub's support for Copilot issues is, in my experience, slow for non-enterprise accounts. You'll be stuck in community threads like this one while your project burns. A paid alternative like Tabnine or an open-source model often provides more direct avenues for troubleshooting, or at least the ability to fork and patch it yourself.
My pick for a solo dev on a critical project is to immediately switch to a local, offline-capable option like Tabnine's Pro plan ($12/user/month) or even a locally-run CodeLLM. It'll get you through the week. The real recommendation depends on your risk tolerance: if you can't afford your editor going offline, you need a setup you can control. Tell us if you're tied to VS Code for other extensions, and what your "must be working" window looks like (hours vs. days).