Copilot CLI usage explosion

[benbenbenbenbenben]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot in GitHub

Body

I've been using the copilot CLI for the last week and suddenly the usage has gone out of control. For context, I use CoPilot Pro+ and I used my included 1000 premium request in the roughly the first 10 days of the billing cycle.

However, once the prepaid 1000 premium requests were exhausted and I went into overage, the overages are being miscounted by what looks like an order of magnitude!

I have 1 active copilot CLI session at 41 premium requests (reported in the CLI) but on the website it currently says 771 requests!

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[benbenbenbenbenben]

Am I just being ignored here or what?

[benbenbenbenbenben]

Thanks for taking a look at this nobody.

[AndreiSchapov]

I have the same issue. The numbers are going up like crazy. What goes on?

[Aashish-po]

Clarifying Copilot CLI premium request usage
I’ve been looking into similar reports and wanted to share some context that may help explain the discrepancy.
It seems this may be related to how Copilot CLI usage is accounted for and displayed, rather than an unexpected spike in actual prompts:

As of April 10, 2026, Copilot CLI activity is now included in the top‑level Copilot usage metrics shown on the web dashboard. Previously, CLI usage was reported separately, so this change can make usage appear to jump even when workflows stay the same.

The CLI-reported “request” count reflects interactions, not billed premium request units. Billing applies model‑specific multipliers, so a single CLI interaction—especially when using premium models or agent-style workflows—may consume multiple premium requests.

There also appear to be cases where the CLI usage display becomes inaccurate once users enter overage, while the web dashboard continues to reflect backend accounting correctly.

Taken together, this could explain situations where a relatively small number of CLI interactions correspond to a much larger premium request number on the usage page.
It might help to clarify (in docs or the CLI UI) that:

CLI counts are interaction-based, not billing units
premium request multipliers are applied at billing time

Happy to provide more data points or examples if that’s useful.

[benbenbenbenbenben]

I've been using the CLI and IDE integrated version the last few days more or less 50/50. I would be more inclined to suspect there is a bug over any other explanation. Unfortunately there is no way to actually see the usage in the usage report. Some logs from the other side would likely nail this.

My usage is pretty consistent. Here's the days before and after the strange days: