github/copilot-sdk · error

Telemetry is not supported with InProcessConnection…

Error message

Telemetry is not supported with InProcessConnection: telemetry configuration is lowered to environment variables read by native runtime code running in the shared host process, so per-client telemetry cannot be honored in-process. Configure telemetry via the host process environment, or use a child-process transport.

What it means

NewClient panics when ClientOptions.Telemetry is set while using InProcessConnection. Telemetry configuration is lowered to environment variables read by native runtime code, and in-process the runtime lives in the shared host process, so per-client telemetry settings cannot be isolated or honored.

Solutions

  1. Remove the Telemetry option when using InProcessConnection.
  2. Configure telemetry via the host process environment variables instead (e.g. set the relevant OTLP/telemetry env vars before process start).
  3. Switch to StdioConnection{} if per-client telemetry configuration is required.

Example fix

// before
client := clientpkg.NewClient(&clientpkg.Options{
    Connection: clientpkg.InProcessConnection{},
    Telemetry:  &clientpkg.TelemetryOptions{Endpoint: "http://collector:4318"},
})
// after
os.Setenv("OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT", "http://collector:4318")
client := clientpkg.NewClient(&clientpkg.Options{
    Connection: clientpkg.InProcessConnection{},
})
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if _, isInProc := opts.Connection.(clientpkg.InProcessConnection); isInProc && opts.Telemetry != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("Telemetry is unsupported with InProcessConnection; configure via host env")
}

Type guard

func isInProcess(c clientpkg.RuntimeConnection) bool { _, ok := c.(clientpkg.InProcessConnection); return ok }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling NewClient with Connection: InProcessConnection{} and a non-nil Options.Telemetry. Panics inside validateEnvironmentOptions (go/client.go:117), reached via NewClient.

Common situations: Teams enable custom telemetry (OTLP endpoint, opt-out flags) for stdio-based clients, then migrate to the in-process transport without removing the Telemetry option.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of github/copilot-sdk@cd8cf15dc3 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/46454364a3dbaca7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at go/client.go:117

// per-client environment, working directory, and telemetry. It panics (fails
// loud) on a misconfiguration, matching the other SDKs.
//
// The in-process transport loads the native runtime into this process, whose
// single environment block and process-global working directory cannot carry
// per-client values, and whose telemetry lowers to shared process-global env
// vars — so options that depend on them are rejected there. Child-process
// transports each own their OS process, so per-connection env is allowed, but
// setting it in both the client-level option and the connection is rejected.
func validateEnvironmentOptions(connection RuntimeConnection, opts *ClientOptions) {
	if _, ok := connection.(InProcessConnection); ok {
		if opts.Env != nil {
			panic("Env is not supported with InProcessConnection: the in-process transport loads the native runtime into the shared host process, whose single environment block cannot carry per-client values. Set the variables on the host process environment instead.")
		}
		if opts.WorkingDirectory != "" {
			panic("WorkingDirectory is not supported with InProcessConnection: the native runtime shares the host process working directory. Use a child-process transport, or set the process working directory before creating the client.")
		}
		if opts.Telemetry != nil {
			panic("Telemetry is not supported with InProcessConnection: telemetry configuration is lowered to environment variables read by native runtime code running in the shared host process, so per-client telemetry cannot be honored in-process. Configure telemetry via the host process environment, or use a child-process transport.")
		}
		return
	}

	if cp, ok := connection.(childProcessConnection); ok {
		if cp.connEnv() != nil && opts.Env != nil {
			panic("Set environment variables via either the client-level Env option or the connection's Env, not both. Prefer the connection-level Env for child-process transports.")
		}
	}
}

// Client manages the connection to the Copilot CLI server and provides session management.
//
// The Client can either spawn a CLI server process or connect to an existing server.
// It handles JSON-RPC communication, session lifecycle, tool execution, and permission requests.
//
// Example:
//

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