---
title: GitHub Copilot
description: How ClawMetry observes GitHub Copilot — where its data lives, the environment variables that move it, what cost data is real, and the traps in its store.
eyebrow: Runtime reference
---

# GitHub Copilot

Copilot CLI keeps a full event log per session plus a SQLite usage ledger. Because Copilot bills in AI credits and the ledger records them exactly, cost here is vendor-billed truth rather than a per-token estimate.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Runtime id** | `copilot` |
| **Category** | Terminal coding agent |
| **Vendor** | GitHub |
| **Tier** | Paid tier (Starter and up) |
| **Upstream** | [github.com/features/copilot](https://github.com/features/copilot) |

## Where the data comes from

ClawMetry reads these locations, in order, and never writes to any of them.

- `~/.copilot/session-state/<uuid>/events.jsonl` — full event log
- `~/.copilot/session-state/<uuid>/workspace.yaml` — session metadata
- `~/.copilot/session-store.db` — SQLite index and usage ledger

**Format.** JSONL events (`{type, data, id, timestamp, parentId}`) plus a WAL-mode SQLite index.

## Environment variables

| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
| `CLAWMETRY_COPILOT_HOME` | home override |

See [Environment variables](/docs/config/environment/) for the variables that apply to every runtime.

## Tokens and cost

**Tokens.** Real, from the `assistant_usage_events` ledger, with input, output, cache read, cache write and reasoning splits.

**Cost.** Vendor-billed: `total_nano_aiu` is the CLI's displayed credits times 1e9, and one credit is one US cent.

:::note Why this section exists
Runtimes differ enormously in what they persist. Rather than showing a plausible number everywhere, ClawMetry reports what the store actually contains and marks the rest unknown. A cost of `$0.00` and a cost of *unknown* mean different things, and the dashboard keeps them different.
:::

## Sub-agents and delegation

Custom agents run inside the parent session — no child transcript is ever written. ClawMetry synthesises a child session per `subagent.started`, and the ledger's `initiator='sub-agent'` rows split child spend out of the parent rather than double-counting it.

## Things worth knowing

- `input_tokens` in the ledger already includes cache reads and `output_tokens` already includes reasoning tokens. ClawMetry reports uncached input plus a separate cache split so the UI does not double-count.

## Verify it is being read

```bash
# Is this runtime detected, and would this install unlock it?
clawmetry runtimes --json | jq '.runtimes[] | select(.id=="copilot")'

# Why is it locked, if it is?
clawmetry runtimes --why copilot

# Any sessions ingested yet?
curl -s 'http://localhost:8900/api/local/sessions?limit=5' \
  | jq '.rows[] | {session_id, agent_id, events, cost_usd}'
```

If detection succeeds but no sessions appear, work through [Troubleshooting](/docs/ops/troubleshooting/) — the usual causes are a relocated data directory (set the override above), a session limit that is hiding older runs, or a runtime that simply has not written anything yet.