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Support $env:EDITOR being a .bat/.cmd script on Windows #1882

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Support $env:EDITOR being a .bat/.cmd script on Windows#1882
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area:platform-windowsWindows-specific: PowerShell, cmd, Git Bash, WSL, Windows Terminal

Description

@chwarr
chwarr
opened on Mar 7, 2026

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

I would like to use an external editor via Ctrl-G. My external editor is opened via a wrapper Batch script

Proposed solution

Support external editors that are started via Batch (.bat/.cmd) scripts on Windows.

Example prompts or workflows

$env:EDITOR='my-editor.cmd'
copilot
# When Copilot launches, press Ctrl-G to edit the prompt in the external editor

Additional context

Today, GitHub Copilot CLI does not support your external editor being a Batch (.bat/.cmd) script. If your $env:EDITOR is something like "my-editor.cmd", pressing Ctrl-G fails with "Error: spawn EINVAL".

If $env:EDITOR is an executable, it works fine.

Activity

  1. chwarr
    added
    triage
    on Mar 7, 2026
  2. chwarr
    added the
    Feature
    issue type on Mar 7, 2026
  3. andyfeller
    added
    area:platform-windowsWindows-specific: PowerShell, cmd, Git Bash, WSL, Windows Terminal
    on Apr 6, 2026
  4. github-actions
    removed
    triage
    on Apr 6, 2026

  5. mu88 commented on Apr 13, 2026

    @mu88
    mu88
    on Apr 13, 2026

    Thx for filing this issue - I also stumbled over it today when trying to configure VS Code

  6. ccstr commented on May 8, 2026

    @ccstr
    ccstr
    on May 8, 2026

    Cross-referencing anthropics/claude-code#57215 — same root cause in another major Windows TUI consumer.

    Since Node 18.20.0 / 20.12.0 / 21.7.0 (CVE-2024-27980, April 2024), child_process.spawn('<file>.cmd', ...) synchronously throws EINVAL unless shell: true is passed. A one-line fix on the Ctrl+G launch path covers .cmd and .bat together without per-extension logic:

    // instead of: spawn(editor, args)
spawn(editor, args, { shell: true })
// or, with explicit dispatch:
spawn('cmd', ['/c', editor, ...args])

    (Anthropic's claude-code LSP-spawn paths got this same fix for the same root cause: anthropics/claude-code#27061, #51191, #53814.)

    Worth re-framing this as a bug rather than a feature request — npm-installed editors always end in .cmd on Windows, so any global npm bin used as $EDITOR errors out with Error: spawn EINVAL on Node ≥ 18.20.0.

  7. priyankvora257 commented on May 19, 2026

    @priyankvora257
    priyankvora257
    on May 19, 2026

    thanks for filing an issue, I have the same problem, do we know what is their cadence in terms of fixing and releasing new version.

  8. copilot-cli-bot commented on Sep 16, 2026

    @copilot-cli-bot
    copilot-cli-botBot
    on Sep 16, 2026

    This appears to be resolved as of GitHub Copilot CLI v1.0.85. Please update to that release or a newer stable version. We're closing this as completed. If it still happens, please comment with your version and reproduction steps.

  9. copilot-cli-bot
    closed this as completedon Sep 16, 2026
  10. mu88
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Oct 13, 2026

    fix(windows-terminal): start VS Code via batch file

    00f254b

    fix(windows-terminal): start VS Code via batch file

    ea10aab
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