vscode: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/instructions/telemetry.instructions.md

vscode telemetry.instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from microsoft/vscode. It costs 4,475 tokens per session, scanned B, original, MIT.

Guidelines for adding usage and error telemetry to VS Code. Telemetry is information sent about software use and performance, with rules for classifying and protecting data.

In plain words
What is it for?
Defining telemetry event types, recording actions and durations, classifying fields for privacy, and reporting errors with suitable metadata.
Why use it?
They help collect useful feature and performance information while limiting personal data and keeping event definitions type-safe.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot ✓ vendor

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is microsoft/vscode's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on vscode itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything vscode configures →

Needs its repository: it runs a file that does not travel with it, so clone the repository first. The line is ./scripts/test.sh --reporter dot \.

About the project

Visual Studio Code is a code editor that supports editing, navigating, understanding, debugging, and extending software projects. Developers use it for the edit-build-debug cycle, and the catalogue add-ons provide skills, instructions, and agents for working within the editor.

microsoft/vscode · 194,219 stars · on GitHub · code.visualstudio.com

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to microsoft/vscode. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/vscode/main/.github/instructions/telemetry.instructions.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/vscode

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for vscode telemetry.instructions.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/microsoft/vscode/telemetry/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/microsoft/vscode/telemetry)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/microsoft/vscode/telemetry"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/microsoft/vscode/telemetry/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for vscode telemetry.instructions.md

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/microsoft/vscode/telemetry"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/microsoft/vscode/telemetry.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 4,475 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 4,475 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.04475 $0.04475
Opus 5.5 $0.01790 $0.01790
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00895 $0.00895
Haiku 4.5 $0.00447 $0.00447

Measured yesterday against content hash 56dcd0926263, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

vscode telemetry.instructions.md scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Strips warnings and disclaimersmediumAnti-refusal

Omitting safety caveats hides risk from the user and is a common jailbreak preamble.

Recorded implementation validation: **92 tests passed**, client compilation/type-check passed, changed-TypeScript ESLint passed without warnings, and module/type layer and cyclic-dependency checks passed. The test select
Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

.github/instructions/telemetry.instructions.md · 294 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 294 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Patterns for GDPR-compliant telemetry in VS Code with proper type safety and privacy protection.

Implementation Pattern

1. Define Types

type MyFeatureEvent = {
    action: string;
    duration: number;
    success: boolean;
    errorCode?: string;
};

type MyFeatureClassification = {
    action: { classification: 'SystemMetaData'; purpose: 'FeatureInsight'; comment: 'The action performed.' };
    duration: { classification: 'SystemMetaData'; purpose: 'PerformanceAndHealth'; isMeasurement: true; comment: 'Time in milliseconds.' };
    success: { classification: 'SystemMetaData'; purpose: 'FeatureInsight'; isMeasurement: true; comment: 'Whether action succeeded.' };
    errorCode: { classification: 'SystemMetaData'; purpose: 'PerformanceAndHealth'; comment: 'Error code if action failed.' };
    owner: 'yourGitHubUsername';
    comment: 'Tracks MyFeature usage and performance.';
};

2.1. Send Event

this.telemetryService.publicLog2<MyFeatureEvent, MyFeatureClassification>('myFeatureAction', {
    action: 'buttonClick',
    duration: 150,
    success: true
});

2.2. Error Events

For error-specific telemetry with stack traces or error messages:

type MyErrorEvent = {
    operation: string;
    errorMessage: string;
    duration?: number;
};

type MyErrorClassification = {
    operation: { classification: 'SystemMetaData'; purpose: 'PerformanceAndHealth'; comment: 'The operation that failed.' };
    errorMessage: { classification: 'CallstackOrException'; purpose: 'PerformanceAndHealth'; comment: 'The error message.' };
    duration: { classification: 'SystemMetaData'; purpose: 'PerformanceAndHealth'; isMeasurement: true; comment: 'Time until failure.' };
    owner: 'yourGitHubUsername';
    comment: 'Tracks MyFeature errors for reliability.';
};

this.telemetryService.publicLogError2<MyErrorEvent, MyErrorClassification>('myFeatureError', {
    operation: 'fileRead',
    errorMessage: error.message,
    duration: 1200
});

Read the full file on GitHub · 294 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday Changed · +20 tokens per session 56dcd0926263
  2. 16d ago Changed · +178 lines · +3,351 tokens per session scan A → B e376a005a79a
  3. 1mo ago Changed · +2 lines · +125 tokens per session beaac5f17cef
  4. 1mo ago First seen · 114 lines · 979 tokens per session scan A f5956e1fc706

Subscribe to this mod's changes

vscode telemetry.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository microsoft/vscode (194,219 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 4,475 tokens to every session, about $0.0179 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (strips warnings and disclaimers). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.