Enterprise Copilot Completely Broken - Rate Limited on First Request

[skywalker10111]

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GitHub Support Team,

I'm a GitHub Copilot Enterprise subscriber ($39/month, username: skywalker10111)
and I cannot use Copilot Agent Mode at all in Visual Studio 2026.

PROBLEM:
Every single request to api.githubcopilot.com/chat/completions fails immediately
with "Rate limit exceeded" - even on the FIRST request of a fresh session.

WHAT I'VE TRIED:

• Signed out and back in multiple times
• Cleared all Windows credentials
• Reset Visual Studio settings
• Verified my Enterprise subscription at github.com/settings/copilot
• Auth shows "OK" but all requests fail

ERROR MESSAGE:
Failed to talk to Copilot: {"error":{"message":"Rate limit exceeded.
Please review our Terms of Service","code":"rate_limited"}}

IMPACT:
I'm paying $39/month for a service I cannot use at all. This appears to be
a backend API issue on GitHub's side, not my configuration.

REQUEST:
Please investigate why api.githubcopilot.com is rejecting my Enterprise
account's requests immediately.

Full error log attached below:

[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Information] [CopilotCompletions] Environment variable COPILOT_USE_DEFAULTPROXY found: False
[Conversations Information] [CopilotCompletions] Automatically retrying (1/6) in 1 seconds, please check if your internet connection is working
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Information] [CopilotCompletions] Automatically retrying (2/6) in 1 seconds, please check if your internet connection is working
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Information] [CopilotCompletions] Automatically retrying (3/6) in 1 seconds, please check if your internet connection is working
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Information] [CopilotCompletions] Automatically retrying (4/6) in 1 seconds, please check if your internet connection is working
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Information] [CopilotCompletions] Automatically retrying (5/6) in 1 seconds, please check if your internet connection is working
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active
[Conversations Error] [CopilotClient EventType(6)] Failed to talk to Copilot: {"error":{"message":"Rate limit exceeded. Please review our Terms of Service.","code":"rate_limited"}}

[Conversations Warning] [CopilotClient] Issue with setting up the connection to 'https://api.githubcopilot.com/chat/completions', if you are using a proxy, check if HTTPS_PROXY is set correctly. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/fundamentals/networking/http/httpclient#http-proxy
[Conversations Information] [GetQuota] Environment variable COPILOT_USE_DEFAULTPROXY found: False
[Conversations Error] [Conversations] Unhandled exception in AskInConversationAsync: System.Exception: Error occurred while invoking intent 'Generic'.
{"error":{"message":"Rate limit exceeded. Please review our Terms of Service.","code":"rate_limited"}}

at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.CheckIfResponseIsSuccessAsync(HttpResponseMessage httpResponse, ChatRequestOptions requestOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.ChatCoreWithCompletionsAPIAsync(HttpClient httpClient, ChatRequestOptions requestOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.ChatCoreAsync(HttpClient httpClient, CopilotAPIRequest request, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Boolean validateRootRequestId, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.GetGitHubApiResponseAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.GetApiResponseAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.RequestAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, ICopilotStreamingContentSink streamTarget, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
at Conversations.Kernel.ConversationBase.AskAsync(CompletionRequest requestContext, CancellationToken cancellation)
at Conversations.Kernel.ConversationBase.AskAsync(CompletionRequest requestContext, CancellationToken cancellation)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.Service.ServiceTarget.AskInConversationAsync(CopilotSessionId sessionId, ConversationRequest conversationRequest, CancellationToken cancellation)
[CopilotSessionProvider Error] Unhandled exception invoking responder GitHub Copilot: StreamJsonRpc.RemoteInvocationException: Error occurred while invoking intent 'Generic'.
{"error":{"message":"Rate limit exceeded. Please review our Terms of Service.","code":"rate_limited"}}

at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.CheckIfResponseIsSuccessAsync(HttpResponseMessage httpResponse, ChatRequestOptions requestOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.ChatCoreWithCompletionsAPIAsync(HttpClient httpClient, ChatRequestOptions requestOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.ChatCoreAsync(HttpClient httpClient, CopilotAPIRequest request, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Boolean validateRootRequestId, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.GetGitHubApiResponseAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.GetApiResponseAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.RequestAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, ICopilotStreamingContentSink streamTarget, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
at StreamJsonRpc.JsonRpc.d__1711.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown --- at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Copilot.ResponderBroker.<SendRequestHelperAsync>d__9.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown --- at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Copilot.ResponderBroker.<SendRequestHelperAsync>d__9.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown --- at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Copilot.ResponderBroker.<SendDirectRequestAsync>d__3.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown --- at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() at System.Threading.Tasks.Sources.ManualResetValueTaskSourceCore1.GetResult(Int16 token)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Copilot.Core.Agents.CopilotAgentModeResponder.d__14.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Sources.ManualResetValueTaskSourceCore`1.GetResult(Int16 token)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Copilot.CopilotDefaultOrchestrator.d__24.MoveNext()
RPC server exception:
System.Exception: Error occurred while invoking intent 'Generic'.
{"error":{"message":"Rate limit exceeded. Please review our Terms of Service.","code":"rate_limited"}}

at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.CheckIfResponseIsSuccessAsync(HttpResponseMessage httpResponse, ChatRequestOptions requestOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.ChatCoreWithCompletionsAPIAsync(HttpClient httpClient, ChatRequestOptions requestOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.CopilotClient.CopilotAPIClient.ChatCoreAsync(HttpClient httpClient, CopilotAPIRequest request, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Boolean validateRootRequestId, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.GetGitHubApiResponseAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.GetApiResponseAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, Action1 onToken, Action1 onUpdate, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Conversations.Kernel.LLMClient.RequestAsync(CopilotAPIRequest request, CopilotInteractionId interactionId, ICopilotStreamingContentSink streamTarget, String sessionToken, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
at Conversations.Kernel.ConversationBase.AskAsync(CompletionRequest requestContext, CancellationToken cancellation)
at Conversations.Kernel.ConversationBase.AskAsync(CompletionRequest requestContext, CancellationToken cancellation)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.Service.ServiceTarget.AskInConversationAsync(CopilotSessionId sessionId, ConversationRequest conversationRequest, CancellationToken cancellation)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Conversations.Service.CopilotServiceContainer.AskInConversationAsync(CopilotSessionId sessionId, ConversationRequest request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

[UI.SessionViewModel Error] Response Status: Failure
[Conversations Information] [CopilotClient] Copilot Internal User response: Conversations.Abstractions.Auth.CopilotUserData
[Conversations Information] [CopilotModels] Environment variable COPILOT_USE_DEFAULTPROXY found: False
[Conversations Information] Copilot auth status: OK. Copilot badge status: Active

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[ankurrera]

This is not a local configuration issue and not normal rate limiting.
What you’re seeing is almost certainly a backend quota / policy mismatch on GitHub’s Copilot infrastructure for your account or organization.

What’s actually happening
Even though:

• Your Copilot auth is OK
• Your badge shows Active
• You are on Copilot Enterprise ($39/month)
  The Copilot backend is immediately returning:
  HTTP 429
  code: rate_limited
  on the very first request.
  That means this is not usage-based throttling. Real rate limits only trigger after requests are consumed.
  This specific pattern usually indicates one of these backend conditions:

Likely root causes (ranked by probability)
1️⃣ Enterprise policy not enabling Agent Mode
Copilot Enterprise allows organization-level feature gating.
Even if you personally pay or see “Active”:

• Agent Mode
• Chat completions
• Advanced endpoints (/chat/completions)
  can be disabled or mis-scoped at the org level.
  When this happens, the backend rejects requests with rate_limited instead of forbidden (this is a known Copilot behavior).
  ✅ This matches your logs exactly.

2️⃣ Quota provisioning failure on GitHub’s side
Sometimes Enterprise seats are:

• Assigned
• Visible in settings
• Auth-valid
  …but never fully provisioned in the Copilot API layer.
  This results in:
• Auth success
• Immediate 429
• Zero usable requests
  Only GitHub Support can fix this.

3️⃣ Account flagged by automated abuse/rate systems
Rare, but possible if:

• Multiple machines
• VPN / rotating IPs
• Shared corporate IPs
• Past preview / beta access
  When this happens, all requests are rejected immediately, regardless of tier.

4️⃣ Visual Studio 2026 Agent Mode mismatch
Agent Mode uses newer Copilot endpoints.
If:

• Your Copilot subscription allows Chat
• But not Agent Mode
  the VS client still calls /chat/completions, which gets blocked.
  This is a product bug, not user error.

Why this is NOT your fault
Your logs clearly show:

• Auth succeeds repeatedly
• Retries happen instantly
• No token exhaustion
• No gradual throttling
• No network failure
  This rules out:
• Local rate limits
• Misconfigured proxy
• Bad token
• Client-side auth failure
  This is 100% backend enforcement.

What actually fixes it (only one works)
⚠️ There is no client-side fix for this.
You must contact GitHub Support, and they must:

• Inspect Copilot quota assignment
• Verify Agent Mode entitlement
• Re-provision your Enterprise seat
• Check org-level Copilot policies
• Clear any incorrect rate-limit flags

What to say to GitHub Support (recommended wording)
You already did most of this correctly. Add this line, which speeds escalation:
This is not usage-based throttling. The API returns rate_limited on the first request of a fresh session with valid auth. Please check Copilot Enterprise quota provisioning and Agent Mode entitlement on the backend.
Also ask them to:

• Confirm Agent Mode is enabled for the organization
• Confirm chat/completions entitlement
• Re-provision your Copilot seat if needed

Expected resolution timeline
From community reports:

• Tier-1 support: 1–2 days
• Backend reprovision: 24–72 hours
• Fix is server-side only

[skywalker10111]

Thanks so much, I wll try that

[shinybrightstar]

Welcome to the GitHub Community, @skywalker10111, we're happy you're here! You are more likely to get a useful response if you are posting your question(s) in the applicable category. Check out this Guide on how to post in the right category. It'll ensure your questions and discussions reach the right people faster!

This particular discussion belongs in the Copilot Conversations category, I've gone ahead and moved it for you. Good luck!