Intellisense (file and directory) suggestions not appearing for $ENV paths

[thegraffix]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title.
• I have searched all open and closed issues to ensure it has not already been reported.
• I have read the troubleshooting guide.
• I am sure this issue is with the extension itself and does not reproduce in a standalone PowerShell instance.
• I have verified that I am using the latest version of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell extension.
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Summary

Scenario:

• $ENV:APPDATA\ is typed in an editor and/or the integrated terminal (either PS 5.1 or 7+ -- both behave the same way)
• Using a fresh install of VS Code with default settings (except tab completion, which is enabled) in Windows Sandbox
• Enabled settings:
  • editor.suggest.showFiles
  • editor.suggest.showFolders
  • editor.tabCompletion

Behavior:

Editor Window

• ❌ Pressing Ctrl+Spacebar one or more times displays (an empty) suggestions box
• ❌ Pressing TAB inserts a tab character rather than performing tab completion

Integrated Terminal

• ❌ Pressing Ctrl+Spacebar once displays (an empty) suggestions box
  • ✔ Pressing Ctrl+Spacebar a second time triggers PSReadLine's MenuComplete function, and paths are correctly expanded/displayed
• ✔ Pressing TAB performs tab completion, and paths are correctly expanded/displayed

PowerShell Version

PS C:\> $PSVersionTable; $Host                                             

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.6.3
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.6.3
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.19041
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 7.0}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.4
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Name             : Visual Studio Code Host
Version          : 2025.4.0
InstanceId       : 91c2ed31-fa5d-44e7-87ea-4a7eb71a2030
UI               : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostUserInterface
CurrentCulture   : en-US
CurrentUICulture : en-US
PrivateData      : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleColorProxy
DebuggerEnabled  : True
IsRunspacePushed : False
Runspace         : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalRunspace

Visual Studio Code Version

PS C:\> code --version
1.125.0
93cfdd489c3b228840d0f86ec77c3636277c93ea
x64

Extension Version

PS C:\> code --list-extensions --show-versions | Select-String powershell

ms-vscode.powershell@2025.4.0

Steps to Reproduce

1. Type an environment path variable in an editor window, e.g. $ENV:APPDATA\
2. Press Ctrl+Spacebar
3. Witness the empty suggestions box
4. Breath

Visuals

2026-06-17.13.40.23.mp4

Logs

No response

[JustinGrote]

So I did a trace and the completions are actually coming from the engine, but I think because the prefix isn't the same, it's not coming up in the results. I'll have to investigate if there's a way to tell vscode this is a file path if the prefix changes.

You see this in when you tab-complete in the terminal as well

20260618-0335-04.3202187.mp4

Completions usually don't completely rewrite, they append, so we'll have to see if there's something we can do here but no promises as this might end up in the "exotic" behavior category, because we'd have to manually find every special environment variable and track it which would be a bug farm.

If I have leftover copilot quota at the end of the month I'll set it loose on things like this unless @andyleejordan wants to take a stab at it. The resolution would be in PowerShellEditorServices.