add more tips, make all of them contextual#294237
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meganrogge merged 1 commit intomainfrom Feb 10, 2026
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Pull request overview
This PR expands the chat “tips” system to be more context-aware, adding new tips and new exclusion mechanisms so tips are suppressed once the user has already discovered/used the referenced features (commands, tools, or workspace prompt files). It also introduces a command to open/focus the Context Window Usage details UI directly from a hint.
Changes:
- Added new tip definitions and made existing tips more contextual via new exclusion conditions (tool-invoked + prompt-file-exists).
- Enhanced
TipEligibilityTrackerto persist and evaluate tool invocations and prompt file presence for tip suppression. - Added a command + widget plumbing to show/focus “Context Window Usage” details and track whether it has been opened.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/browser/chatTipService.ts | Adds new tips and implements new exclusion mechanisms (tool invocation + prompt file existence), with persistence. |
| src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/test/browser/chatTipService.test.ts | Extends unit tests for new exclusion behavior (tools + prompt files + agent change event). |
| src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/common/actions/chatContextKeys.ts | Adds a new context key tracking whether context usage details have been opened. |
| src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/browser/widgetHosts/viewPane/chatContextUsageWidget.ts | Persists/sets the “opened” state and exposes showDetails() to programmatically open the sticky hover. |
| src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/browser/widget/input/chatInputPart.ts | Adds showContextUsageDetails() to bridge commands to the widget. |
| src/vs/workbench/contrib/chat/browser/actions/chatActions.ts | Registers the new workbench.action.chat.showContextUsage command to open the details UI. |
mjbvz
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Feb 10, 2026
cwebster-99
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Feb 10, 2026
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cwebster-99
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Added some small tweaks to tips. Should we also add one for steering?
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fixes #290019
fixes #293536
Added 10 new tips: custom agents, skills, message queueing, yolo mode, mermaid, GitHub repo, subagents, context usage, send to new chat.
Introduced two new exclusion mechanisms on tip definitions:
excludeWhenToolsInvokedsuppresses a tip after a specific tool has been usedexcludeWhenPromptFilesExistsuppresses a tip when prompt files of a given type are found in the workspaceAlso adds a new command to focus the
Context Window Usagewidget, so we can allow users to open that from the hint.