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{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Enterprise-managed plugin (extraKnownMarketplaces/enabledPlugins) marked installed/enabled but never synced to disk","articleBody":"### Describe the bug\n\nA plugin registered via an enterprise `managed-settings.json` (`extraKnownMarketplaces` + `enabledPlugins`) is marked as installed and enabled in `~/.copilot/config.json` (with a version and a `cache_path`), but the plugin's files are never actually downloaded/synced to disk. The referenced `cache_path` directory does not exist, and the mirrored `~/.copilot/plugin-data/\u003cmarketplace\u003e/\u003cplugin\u003e/` directory exists but is completely empty. As a result, none of the plugin's agents/skills ever become usable, with no error surfaced anywhere. Removing the plugin doesn't stick either — it gets re-added with a new `installed_at` timestamp shortly after (apparently re-enforced by the enterprise policy), but the cache directory is still never populated.\n\nAlso filed against the VS Code Copilot Chat extension (which bundles this same CLI), since the underlying `~/.copilot` state is shared: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/324611\n\n### Config structures (redacted)\n\n**Enterprise `managed-settings.json`** — registers a private marketplace and auto-enables one of its plugins:\n\n```json\n{\n    \"extraKnownMarketplaces\": {\n        \"\u003cmarketplace-name\u003e\": {\n            \"source\": {\n                \"source\": \"github\",\n                \"repo\": \"\u003corg\u003e/\u003cprivate-marketplace-repo\u003e\"\n            }\n        }\n    },\n    \"enabledPlugins\": {\n        \"\u003cplugin-name\u003e@\u003cmarketplace-name\u003e\": true\n    },\n    \"permissions\": {\n        \"model\": \"auto\"\n    }\n}\n```\n\nThe same enablement is also reflected in VS Code's `settings.json` (bundled Copilot CLI shares state):\n\n```json\n\"chat.plugins.enabledPlugins\": {\n  \"\u003cplugin-name\u003e@\u003cmarketplace-name\u003e\": true\n}\n```\n\n**Resulting entry written to `~/.copilot/config.json` → `installedPlugins`** — marked installed with a `cache_path` that never gets populated:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"name\": \"\u003cplugin-name\u003e\",\n  \"marketplace\": \"\u003cmarketplace-name\u003e\",\n  \"version\": \"2.2.0\",\n  \"installed_at\": \"2026-07-06T19:31:21.215Z\",\n  \"cache_path\": \"/Users/\u003cuser\u003e/.copilot/installed-plugins/\u003cmarketplace-name\u003e/\u003cplugin-name\u003e\",\n  \"enabled\": true\n}\n```\n\n### Affected version\n\n```\nGitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.68.\n```\n\n### Steps to reproduce the behavior\n\n1. As an enterprise owner, add `copilot/managed-settings.json` with `extraKnownMarketplaces` pointing at a custom GitHub-hosted marketplace repo, and `enabledPlugins` set to auto-install one of its plugins (`\"\u003cplugin-name\u003e@\u003cmarketplace-name\u003e\": true`).\n2. Authenticate `copilot` (or VS Code's bundled Copilot CLI) with an account under that enterprise, and wait for the managed settings to sync (docs state ~hourly).\n3. The plugin auto-installs per policy. Inspect `~/.copilot/config.json` — the plugin appears under `installedPlugins` with `enabled: true`, a version, and a `cache_path` (see structure above).\n4. Check the filesystem — the `cache_path` directory referenced in config does not exist. The parallel `~/.copilot/plugin-data/\u003cmarketplace\u003e/\u003cplugin\u003e/` directory exists but is empty (0 files), with a stale mtime from an earlier registration attempt.\n5. Attempt to remove the plugin. Config re-adds it shortly after with a new `installed_at` timestamp, but the cache directory is still never populated.\n6. Compare against the default `github-awesome-copilot` marketplace, whose cache directory (`~/.copilot/marketplace-cache/github-awesome-copilot/`) is fully populated with hundreds of skill/instruction files — confirming the general marketplace-sync mechanism works, and the failure is specific to marketplaces added via `extraKnownMarketplaces`.\n\n### Expected behavior\n\nThe plugin's content should be fully downloaded/synced before being marked `installed: true`/`enabled: true`, or install status should reflect a failed/incomplete sync with a visible error and retry path. Removal should also either succeed, or clearly explain that it's being re-enforced by enterprise policy.\n\n### Additional context\n\nThe plugin declares a couple of MCP servers. The CLI still tries to launch them, using the (nonexistent) plugin dir as `cwd`. `npx` tolerates the missing `cwd`, so the MCP servers actually **start and connect successfully** — confirming the MCP spawn is a *symptom*, not the cause. Note also that the `[ERROR]` prefix here is just how the CLI logs all MCP lifecycle events (including successful `connected` / `Started` lines):\n\n```\n[ERROR] Starting MCP client for \u003cserver-a\u003e with command: npx and args: -y \u003credacted-mcp-package\u003e\n[ERROR] Starting MCP client for \u003cserver-b\u003e with command: npx and args: -y \u003credacted-mcp-package\u003e\n       cwd: /Users/\u003cuser\u003e/.copilot/installed-plugins/\u003cmarketplace\u003e/\u003cplugin\u003e   \u003c-- directory does not exist\n[ERROR] MCP client for \u003cserver-b\u003e connected, took 3134ms\n[ERROR] Started MCP client for \u003cserver-a\u003e\n```\n\nThe real problem remains that the plugin's own bundled content (agents/skills) is never downloaded to `cache_path`.\n\n- OS: macOS 26.5.2 (Darwin 25.5.0)\n- CPU architecture: arm64\n- Terminal: integrated VS Code terminal (bash)\n- Shell: bash\n","author":{"url":"https://github.com/mohammadrayan","@type":"Person","name":"mohammadrayan"},"datePublished":"2026-07-06T19:57:32.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":0},"url":"https://github.com/4039/copilot-cli/issues/4039"}