Copilot Chat Export (IntelliJ + Mac)

Motivation

This Java program was created because the GitHub Copilot plugin for IntelliJ does not provide an export functionality (as of the time of writing).

This project is a fork of the original Gist by nineninesevenfour (raw: URL), enhancing it with new features and improved usability.

How it works

It scans the configuration files stored by the GitHub Copilot plugin under ~/.config/github-copilot and tries to extract the contents, exporting each chat as a separate markdown file.

⚠️ Important: It does not work for workspaces that are open! Every workspace you want to export the chats of must be closed beforehand!

Data Structure

For detailed information about how Copilot stores its chat data and how this tool extracts it, see the DATA_STRUCTURE.md file (or DATA_STRUCTURE_cs.md for the Czech version).

Notes & Disclaimer

• I do not take any warranty for damages caused by using this program. I tested it successfully multiple times, though.
• It might stop working at any time with updates of the GitHub Copilot plugin.
• It was tested for the GitHub Copilot IntelliJ plugin on Mac. It wasn't tested on Windows. Feel free to adapt it to your needs.
• The exported files will be written into a folder chat-export under the current folder where the program is running. It creates three subfolders, basic, detailed and styled, each containing markdown files named YYYY-MM-DD_<Title_of_chat>.md.
• Files edited during the chat are extracted and saved into the chat-export/_assets folder, keeping both the original (pre-edit) and modified versions. The exported Markdown chats contain relative links to these local assets.
• It will overwrite previously created files with the same name (this is intentional to be able to repeat the export multiple times); however, if by chance there are two or more equally named chats from the same date found in the same run, they will receive a sequential number in the end and NOT be overwritten.
• It detects chats of mode "Ask" and "Agent".
• It successfully extracts Thinking steps, Edited files (Working Set), Error messages, and Ratings (👍/👎).
• Empty chats are skipped.
• The user's chat message might not be 100% identical to the original due to some markdown reformatting.
• Chats of currently open workspaces cannot be exported because those configurations are locked. There will be an error logged, which you can ignore.
• Older chats will probably not have the model name or advanced steps in the output.

How to Compile and Run

This project is a standard Maven project. You have multiple options to run it:

Option 1: Using Maven Exec Plugin (Recommended)

You can compile and run the application directly using Maven from the project root:

mvn compile exec:java

To run the DiagnosticDump utility:

mvn compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="cz.lopin.copilotchatexport.DiagnosticDump"

Option 2: Building a Standalone JAR (jar-with-dependencies)

You can build a "fat jar" containing all dependencies and run it:

mvn clean package

Then run the generated JAR file:

java -jar target/copilot-chat-export-1.0.1-SNAPSHOT-executable.jar

To run the DiagnosticDump utility from the JAR:

java -cp target/copilot-chat-export-1.0.1-SNAPSHOT-executable.jar cz.lopin.copilotchatexport.DiagnosticDump

Option 3: From an IDE

1. Open the project in your favorite IDE (like IntelliJ IDEA).
2. Make sure all dependencies are downloaded by Maven.
3. Navigate to the cz.lopin.copilotchatexport.CopilotChatExport class or cz.lopin.copilotchatexport.DiagnosticDump class.
4. Run the main method.

Note: The exported chats will be placed in the chat-export directory inside the folder where the program is executed.

Basic, Detailed and Styled templates

The program now simultaneously generates three different versions of each chat:

1. chat-export/basic/... using chat_template_basic.th - standard markdown, prompts and replies only.
2. chat-export/detailed/... using chat_template_detailes.th - standard markdown, with additional info like changed files, thinking sections, etc.
3. chat-export/styled/... using chat_template_styled.th - enhanced HTML/Markdown hybrid, optimized for dark mode with custom fonts, collapsible thinking steps, and distinct styling for code edits and errors.

Whether the styled template looks good will depend on the markdown viewer used (tested with IntelliJ and VSCode).

Dependencies Used

• Nitrite Database
• H2 Database MVStore
• Thymeleaf Templates
• Jackson Databind
• SLF4J Simple Provider

Sample output of Basic template

Java Hello World Program

• User: nineninesevenfour
• Start: 2025-12-22 15:17:45
• End / Last Change: 2025-12-22 15:18:57

---

Request:

• Mode: Ask

Hello

Response:

• Model: Claude Sonnet 4.5

• References:

  • ~/my-workspaces/workspace1/.gitignore

• Steps:

  • ✅ Collecting context
  • ✅ Reading git information
  • ✅ Analyzing problems and errors
  • ✅ Reading runtime logs
  • ✅ Generating response

Hello! How can I assist you with your code or any technical questions you might have?

---

Request:

Please give me a hello world Java main

Response:

Sure, here is a simple "Hello, World!" program in Java:

public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
    }
}

This program defines a class named HelloWorld. Inside this class, there is a single method main. This method is the entry point for any Java application. The System.out.println("Hello, World!"); statement is used to print the string "Hello, World!" to the console.

---

End of Chat

Sample Output of Detailed template

Java Hello World Program

• User: nineninesevenfour
• Start: 2025-12-22 15:17:45
• End / Last Change: 2025-12-22 15:18:57

---

Hello

• Mode: Agent

• Model: Claude 3.7 Sonnet

• References:

  • ~/my-workspaces/workspace1/.gitignore

Steps:

• ✅ Collecting context
• ✅ Analyzing workspace

Thinking:

The user is saying hello. I should greet them back and ask how I can help with their project.

Hello! How can I assist you with your code or any technical questions you might have?

---

Please fix the bug in Main.java

📝 Edited files:

• Main.java (orig)

I've fixed the bug in your Main.java file.

---

End of Chat

Sample Output of Styled Template