Regression of #2802: main pane freezes / output swallowed - infinite React/Ink render loop (Maximum update depth exceeded) returns on v1.0.72+ (VS Code integrated terminal, native Windows) #4222

Summary

The infinite React/Ink render loop reported and closed in #2802 (v1.0.31) has regressed. On recent releases the main view intermittently freezes: the submitted prompt disappears, the UI shows "Working...", and no output is rendered. Exiting and running /resume dumps the previously-invisible buffered output and the session often works on the next try. It is intermittent - with the same binary, one session works and the next freezes within the same minute.

The underlying error in the logs is identical to #2802:

[ERROR] Maximum update depth exceeded. This can happen when a component
calls setState inside useEffect, but useEffect either doesn't have a
dependency array, or one of the dependencies changes on every render.

Version correlation (strong evidence it's a version regression)

Across all local ~/.copilot/logs/process-*.log files:

• Zero Maximum update depth occurrences on v1.0.67 and earlier (ran 3-4 concurrent sessions daily for days with no wedge).
• First-ever occurrence: 2026-07-20T18:24:58.714Z - ~1 second after an auto-update completed:

  2026-07-20T18:24:44.133Z [INFO] Cleaned up 1 old package version(s): 1.0.67
  2026-07-20T18:24:57.593Z [INFO] Successfully updated binary
  2026-07-20T18:24:58.714Z [ERROR] Maximum update depth exceeded. ...
  

  That update landed on v1.0.72.
• Still reproduces on v1.0.73.
• 15 separate session logs carry the loop, all on/after that update.
• Rolling the global npm binary back to v1.0.67 eliminates it (confirmed stable).

(I can't pinpoint whether 1.0.68-1.0.71 were affected - they only ran briefly during the auto-update climb - but 1.0.67 is clean and 1.0.72/1.0.73 are not.)

Things that are NOT the cause (ruled out)

• Not multi-session contention - this workflow runs 3-4 CLI sessions in the VS Code integrated terminal daily and was fine for months on 1.0.67.
• The IDE banner Conflict: A connection for this session already exists prints on every launch (working or frozen) - benign, not a predictor.
• MCP Servers reloaded: 1 server connected is not a reliable success marker - sessions froze even after it printed.
• No reliable UI tell for working-vs-frozen; it behaves like a race in the IDE-reconnect / MCP-reload handshake, which matches the intermittency and the self-heal on a fresh /resume.

Environment

• OS: Windows 10.0.26200 (native, not WSL) - distinct from TUI wedges mid-turn (screen clears, input dead, Ctrl+C/Ctrl+\ ignored) — write EIO on stdout followed by EPIPE on Rust JSON-RPC transport; WSL2 + Windows Terminal #4069
• Terminal: VS Code integrated terminal
• Node: v24.14.1, npm: 11.11.0
• Copilot CLI: broken on 1.0.72 / 1.0.73; last-known-good 1.0.67
• MCP: GitHub MCP server configured (matches v1.0.31: main pane frozen — infinite React/Ink render loop (Maximum update depth exceeded) #2802, where a GitHub MCP + Octokit 403 preceded the first loop)

Workaround

setx COPILOT_AUTO_UPDATE false           # pin auto-update off
npm install -g @github/[email protected]    # roll back to last-good
# then fully exit all CLI sessions and restart VS Code

Related

• Regression of v1.0.31: main pane frozen — infinite React/Ink render loop (Maximum update depth exceeded) #2802 (v1.0.31 - same signature, closed as fixed in 1.0.32).
• Distinct from TUI wedges mid-turn (screen clears, input dead, Ctrl+C/Ctrl+\ ignored) — write EIO on stdout followed by EPIPE on Rust JSON-RPC transport; WSL2 + Windows Terminal #4069 (WSL2 + Windows Terminal write EIO/EPIPE stdout cascade - different mechanism).