Only send code if it is currently visually selected

[rickboks]

I've noticed that CopilotChat remembers the last visual selection, and uses that as the 'selection' which is passed to the model. I would like to only send code if it is currently visually selected. Can I configure CopilotChat to achieve this? Or is there a way to clear the selection buffer without resetting the entire session? Thanks!

[deathbeam]

Its not really possible in consistent way because only reliable way to get visual selection is visual selection marks but those do not get reset. You can either select empty line for "resetting" the visual selection or delete the <, >, [, ] marks for now. But I plan to improve the selection api slihtly in future so it will simply have .clear_selection() or somethin method that will be simpler to use

[rickboks]

Thanks for your explanation, that makes sense. Just a thought: would it be possible to check whether the user is currently in visual mode, and only send the visual selection to Copilot if this is the case? It seems a bit wasteful to send the same selection in multiple chat messages

[deathbeam]

Well the selection is sent as resource, so its actually not kept in history but its replaced every time. That is how all the built-in data sharing in plugin works. And detecting if user is not in visual mode is kinda tricky because user could want to ask about their selection while typing in the actual chat window and then its impossible to actually be in visual mode

[deathbeam]

#1340

Now that selection is included based on #selection you can include or not include it whenever you want which should also solve this issue

[rickboks]

@deathbeam Thanks! Can you please elaborate on how to choose whether or not to include selection? When I send a chat message with something selected (or previously selected), CopilotChat automatically adds ##neovim://selection at the start of my message (after sending)

[deathbeam]

@deathbeam Thanks! Can you please elaborate on how to choose whether or not to include selection? When I send a chat message with something selected (or previously selected), CopilotChat automatically adds ##neovim://selection at the start of my message (after sending)

Edit the default config, its set as default resource. And then just manually include it or not via #selection

[globalchubby]

I've got this config, and whenever I switch to the Copilot chat window, it still highlights and sends the last visual selection:

	{
		"CopilotC-Nvim/CopilotChat.nvim",
		-- Resources (#<name>) - Add specific content (files, git diffs, URLs) to your prompt
		-- Tools (@<name>) - Give LLM access to functions it can call with your approval
		-- Sticky Prompts (> <text>) - Persist context across single chat session
		-- Models ($<model>) - Specify which AI model to use for the chat
		-- Prompts (/PromptName) - Use predefined prompt templates for common tasks
		keys = {
			{ "<leader>cc", ":CopilotChatToggle<cr>", mode = "n", desc = "CopilotChat: Open chat" },
			{ "<leader>ce", ":CopilotChatExplain<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Explain selection" },
			{ "<leader>cr", ":CopilotChatReview<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Review selection" },
			{ "<leader>cf", ":CopilotChatFix<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Fix selection" },
			{ "<leader>cd", ":CopilotChatDocs<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Generate docs for selection" },
			{ "<leader>co", ":CopilotChatOptimize<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Optimize selection" },
			{ "<leader>ct", ":CopilotChatTests<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Generate tests for selection" },
			{ "<leader>cm", ":CopilotChatCommit<cr>", mode = "n", desc = "CopilotChat: Generate commit message" },
		},
		config = function()
			require("CopilotChat").setup({
				resources = nil,
				prompts = {
					-- The out-of-the-box version uses #buffer which makes no sense.
					Commit = {
						prompt = "Write commit message for the change with commitizen convention. Keep the title under 50 characters and wrap message at 72 characters. Format as a gitcommit code block. If user has COMMIT_EDITMSG opened, generate replacement block for whole buffer.",
						resources = {
							"gitdiff:staged",
						},
					},
				},
			})
		end,
	},

Any thoughts?

[deathbeam]

I've got this config, and whenever I switch to the Copilot chat window, it still highlights and sends the last visual selection:

{
"CopilotC-Nvim/CopilotChat.nvim",
-- Resources (#) - Add specific content (files, git diffs, URLs) to your prompt
-- Tools (@) - Give LLM access to functions it can call with your approval
-- Sticky Prompts (> ) - Persist context across single chat session
-- Models ($) - Specify which AI model to use for the chat
-- Prompts (/PromptName) - Use predefined prompt templates for common tasks
keys = {
{ "cc", ":CopilotChatToggle", mode = "n", desc = "CopilotChat: Open chat" },
{ "ce", ":CopilotChatExplain", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Explain selection" },
{ "cr", ":CopilotChatReview", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Review selection" },
{ "cf", ":CopilotChatFix", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Fix selection" },
{ "cd", ":CopilotChatDocs", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Generate docs for selection" },
{ "co", ":CopilotChatOptimize", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Optimize selection" },
{ "ct", ":CopilotChatTests", mode = "v", desc = "CopilotChat: Generate tests for selection" },
{ "cm", ":CopilotChatCommit", mode = "n", desc = "CopilotChat: Generate commit message" },
},
config = function()
require("CopilotChat").setup({
resources = nil,
prompts = {
-- The out-of-the-box version uses #buffer which makes no sense.
Commit = {
prompt = "Write commit message for the change with commitizen convention. Keep the title under 50 characters and wrap message at 72 characters. Format as a gitcommit code block. If user has COMMIT_EDITMSG opened, generate replacement block for whole buffer.",
resources = {
"gitdiff:staged",
},
},
},
})
end,
},
Any thoughts?

Its not sent if its not in resources. Highlighting of selection is separate, i cant really dynamically turn it off.

[globalchubby]

Hm, the neovim selection is definitely sent though.

output.mov

Could you spot something wrong in my config?

[deathbeam]

Hm, the neovim selection is definitely sent though.

output.mov
Could you spot something wrong in my config?

Oh, i think the issue is that you set the resources to nil. Setting them to either empty table or false or empty string should work (see :h vim.tbl_deep_extend())

[globalchubby]

Thanks, that worked! What would be the use case of allowing nil then? Should we support that option value?

[deathbeam]

Thanks, that worked! What would be the use case of allowing nil then? Should we support that option value?

Its limitation of vim.tbl_deep_extend so its not possible im afraid (and every other plugin also uses same method for merging configs)

[globalchubby]

I mean, we can still use vim.tbl_deep_extend, but is it worth it to we annotate the accepted values to not include nil in the user-facing documentation? Or do we just expect users to know that nil won't have any effect?