[Bug]Custom agent appears duplicated in selection list and fails to load after restart

[robinsujob]

Describe the bug

Summary

When a custom agent's filename differs from its frontmatter name field, two issues occur:

1. The agent appears duplicated in the /agent selection menu (one entry from the filename, one from the name field).
2. After session restart, the CLI fails to find the previously selected agent with error: Custom agent "xxx" not found.

Environment

• GitHub Copilot CLI version: v1.0.16-1
• Model: Claude Opus 4.6 (6x) (high)
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (WSL2) on Windows
• Kernel: Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 aarch64
• Node.js: v24.14.0
• Agent directory: ~/.copilot/agents/

Agent Configuration

Two custom agent files exist in ~/.copilot/agents/:

File	Frontmatter name
azure-expert.md	azure-solution-expert
azure-aws-doc.md	azure-vs-aws-compare-expert

Note: the filename and the name field in frontmatter are intentionally different.

Steps to Reproduce

Bug 1: Duplicate agent entry

1. Create a custom agent file at ~/.copilot/agents/azure-expert.md with frontmatter name: azure-solution-expert
2. Start ghcp
3. Run /agent to open the agent selection menu

Expected: The agent should appear once in the list.

Actual: The agent appears twice:

Select Agent:
  1. Default (deselect current agent)
> 2. azure-solution-expert (current)
  3. azure-solution-expert · user        <-- duplicate
  4. azure-vs-aws-compare-expert · user

Bug 2: Agent not found after restart

1. Select the custom agent azure-solution-expert via /agent
2. Restart the CLI session (close and reopen, or the session restarts automatically)

Expected: The agent should be loaded successfully on restart.

Actual: Error message on startup:

✗ Custom agent "azure-solution-expert" not found. Available agents: azure-aws-doc, azure-expert
● Environment loaded: 5 MCP servers, 1 skill, 2 agents
● Selected custom agent: azure-solution-expert

The "Available agents" list uses filenames (azure-aws-doc, azure-expert), but the persisted selection uses the frontmatter name (azure-solution-expert). The lookup fails because these don't match.

Root Cause Analysis

The CLI appears to use two different identifiers for agents inconsistently:

• Agent selection/persistence: Uses the name field from the agent file's YAML frontmatter
• Agent lookup on restart: Uses the filename (without .md extension)

When filename ≠ frontmatter name, the agent:

• Gets registered under both identifiers → duplicate in list
• Gets persisted by frontmatter name but looked up by filename on restart → not found error

Expected Behavior

1. The agent should appear exactly once in the selection list regardless of whether the filename matches the frontmatter name field.
2. The CLI should use a consistent identifier (either filename or frontmatter name, not both) for selection, persistence, and lookup.
3. If the frontmatter name takes priority over the filename, the persisted selection should resolve correctly on restart.

Screenshot

Workaround

Rename the agent file to match the frontmatter name field:

mv ~/.copilot/agents/azure-expert.md ~/.copilot/agents/azure-solution-expert.md
mv ~/.copilot/agents/azure-aws-doc.md ~/.copilot/agents/azure-vs-aws-compare-expert.md

Labels

bug, custom-agents, cli

Affected version

No response

Steps to reproduce the behavior

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Additional context

No response