If you've ever found yourself repeatedly correcting GitHub Copilot with the same preferences or re-explaining your team's coding standards in every chat session, the January 2026 release of VS Code brings a possible solution: Copilot Memory.
What Is Copilot Memory?
Copilot Memory is a new feature that allows GitHub Copilot to remember important context across your coding sessions. Think of it as giving your AI assistant a notebook where it can jot down your preferences, team conventions, and project-specific guidelines—and actually refer back to them later.
Released as a preview feature in VS Code version 1.109 (January 2026), Copilot Memory changes how you interact with AI-powered coding assistance by making your conversations with Copilot persistent and personalized.
How it works
The magic of Copilot Memory happens through a new memory tool that's integrated directly into VS Code's chat interface. Here's how it works:
Intelligent detection
Copilot automatically recognizes when you're sharing information worth remembering—like when you correct it or explicitly mention coding preferences. You don't need to manually flag everything; the AI intelligently detects what's important.
Two-way memory management
The memory tool can both retrieve relevant context from your stored memories and save new learnings as you work. This means Copilot doesn't just passively store information—it actively uses your memories to provide better, more contextual responses.
Smart storage decisions
The tool determines when to store information as a memory and when to retrieve relevant memories to inform its responses. For example, if you tell Copilot to "always ask clarifying questions when in doubt", it will remember this instruction for future interactions.
Getting started
To enable Copilot Memory in VS Code:
- Make sure you're using VS Code version 1.109 or later
- Open your settings and enable the memory tool by setting
chat.experimental.chatMemorytotruein VS Code
- Start chatting with Copilot—the memory feature will work automatically
Remark: I only got this feature working when my Git repo was stored in GitHub. When I tried to use this with an Azure DevOps repo or local only repo I got the following message:
You can view and manage all your saved memories through GitHub's Copilot settings, giving you full control over what your AI assistant remembers.
You can view and manage all your memories from GitHub's Copilot settings.
Privacy and control
An important note: Copilot intelligently merges memories into your existing files or creates new ones, and you maintain full control over what's stored. You can review, edit, and delete any memory at any time through the GitHub Copilot settings interface.
Memories are stored in your workspace, making them part of your development environment rather than some opaque cloud storage you can't access or control.
Looking ahead
Copilot Memory is currently in preview, which means Microsoft is actively gathering feedback and iterating on the feature. I don’t know how this feature will evolve but some things I’m hoping for:
- Better memory organization and categorization
- Support for other sources than GitHub.
- More control and improved detection of what's worth remembering