Feature: long-running goals via .copilot/goals.md (per-repo + global)

[BunsDev]

Summary

Add first-class support for long-running, cross-session goals via a declarative .copilot/goals.md file (per-repo) and ~/.copilot/goals.md (global) that the agent reads at session start and updates as work progresses.

Complements (but does not overlap with) #1912 (full session persistence) and #2129 (scheduled/loop tasks). This is the simplest possible primitive: a user-owned markdown file the agent treats as durable intent.

Problem

Today, Copilot CLI sessions are stateless across /new, /clear, and compaction. Users working on multi-day or multi-session efforts must re-explain objectives every time. The existing AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md patterns are great for instructions, but not for goals with state (in-progress, paused, done).

Proposed solution

1. On session start, if .copilot/goals.md (cwd) or ~/.copilot/goals.md (home) exists, load them into context and surface active goals to the user.
2. Provide a /goals slash command:
   • /goals — list active goals
   • /goals add <title> — append a new active goal (per-repo by default; --global for home)
   • /goals done <id> / /goals pause <id> <reason>
   • /goals edit — open in $EDITOR
3. File format is plain markdown with a minimal convention (sections ## active / ## paused / ## done, one ### goal: <id> per entry, key/value lines). Users can edit by hand; the agent reads/writes idempotently.
4. Auto-add .copilot/goals.md to .gitignore on first write (configurable).

Example file

# Goals

## active

### goal: migrate-to-pnpm
- title: Migrate all repos from npm to pnpm
- created: 2026-05-18
- updated: 2026-05-18
- progress: 3/12 repos
- notes: |
    Done: coven-docs, coven-web, coven-cli.
    Convention: pnpm@9, workspace protocol for internal deps.
- next: Convert openhands-agent-canvas — has a postinstall script that breaks under pnpm.

Why a file (not a DB)?

• Survives compaction by construction — it's on disk.
• User-owned and grep-able — no opaque session blobs.
• Agent-agnostic — same file works for Copilot CLI, Claude Code, Codex.
• Zero infra — no daemon, no migration story.

Prior art / parallel work

I built this as a portable skill that works today across multiple agents: https://github.com/BunsDev/copilot-skills/tree/master/long-running-goals. Installable via npx skills add BunsDev/copilot-skills@long-running-goals.

Promoting it to a first-class CLI feature would give:

• Native slash command (no skill-injection round-trip)
• Auto-loading without depending on the skill being installed
• Editor integration (/goals edit)
• Consistent path conventions across users

Out of scope (for this issue)

• Full conversation persistence (tracked in Context Manager for Persistent Sessions Per Folder #1912)
• Scheduled/loop execution (tracked in Loop / Scheduled commands to allow long-running tasks #2129)
• Multi-user shared goals (could come later)

Related

• Context Manager for Persistent Sessions Per Folder #1912 Context Manager for Persistent Sessions Per Folder
• Loop / Scheduled commands to allow long-running tasks #2129 Loop / Scheduled commands to allow long-running tasks
• Add --additional-skills option #868 --additional-skills option

Happy to iterate on the spec or contribute (CLI is closed-source, but I can refine the design and ship the skill as a stopgap).

[BunsDev]

Quick follow-up after validating the stopgap skill against current gh skill tooling.

I updated BunsDev/copilot-skills to align the long-running-goals skill with current install/publish expectations:

• added license: MIT frontmatter and a root MIT LICENSE
• changed docs to lead with the current Copilot/GitHub command: gh skill install BunsDev/copilot-skills long-running-goals
• kept npx skills add BunsDev/copilot-skills --skill long-running-goals documented as a cross-agent installer path
• clarified that the skill is a stopgap workflow, not native CLI behavior: it does not add /goals or guaranteed session-start autoload by itself
• clarified .copilot/goals.md / ~/.copilot/goals.md as the default portable convention, with other namespaces only when explicitly requested
• added a small repo validator for skill metadata, required sections, and templates

Validation:

• npm run validate
• gh skill publish . --dry-run succeeds
• local gh skill install ... --from-local --agent github-copilot --scope project succeeds
• npx skills add . --list finds long-running-goals
• commit is signed: 93435e1

One remaining repo-setting note from gh skill publish --dry-run: GitHub warns there are no active tag-protection rulesets, so immutable release tags should be protected before relying on version-pinned installs like long-running-goals@v1.0.0.

This keeps the native proposal separate from the current skill-based workaround: the skill is usable today, while first-class /goals and automatic .copilot/goals.md loading would still need native Copilot CLI support.