ELIG: Explain Like I'm Grug

ELIG turns a PR or branch diff into an interactive, plain-English lesson inside VS Code. Step through your changes one concept at a time, with the relevant code highlighted in the editor as you go. Ask follow-up questions, request simpler explanations, generate a QA checklist, run a risk analysis, and more — all without leaving the panel.

Built for developers who want to actually understand a diff — not just skim it.

How it works

1. Open a repo in VS Code
2. Click the ELIG icon in the activity bar (the caveman)
3. Hit Grug this Branch, Grug Local Changes, or Grug a PR
4. ELIG analyzes the diff using whatever AI you have installed (GitHub Copilot, Claude, etc.) and generates a step-by-step lesson
5. Walk through each step — the relevant file opens and the changed lines are highlighted automatically

On first launch, a short 3-panel walkthrough explains the basics.

Features

Diff sources

• Branch diff: analyzes everything between your current branch and the base branch
• Local changes: analyzes your uncommitted changes against HEAD
• PR diff: paste a GitHub PR URL or number to review any PR

Lesson overview (summary screen)

• PR title and context: large, centered PR title with file count and +N/-N stats
• Branch names: shows the from/to branches in the summary header
• Clickable files: click any file to open a side-by-side diff for it directly; files show A / D / R badges for added, deleted, and renamed
• File tree: when changes span multiple folders, files are grouped by top-level folder
• Step completion marks: steps you have navigated show a ✓; click any step to jump to it
• Hide completed steps: toggle to collapse steps you have already marked done, so only remaining work is visible
• Jump to any step: click a step in the summary or use the dropdown nav on any step screen

Step view

• Color-coded sections: each file section gets a neon color; explanation paragraphs have matching colored borders
• Breadcrumb: file chips above the step title; click one to jump to it in the editor
• File highlights: relevant lines highlighted in amber as you read
• Hover to highlight: hover over any explanation paragraph to pop the matching file sections
• Click to lock: click a paragraph to keep its sections highlighted; click again to release
• Jump chips: file+line chips on each paragraph; click to jump to that exact section in the editor
• Diff view: the ⊞ zone on each chip opens a VS Code diff scoped to that section
• More detail: expand any paragraph for a deeper dive on that specific part
• Copy button: hover any paragraph to reveal a ⎘ button that copies the text to clipboard
• Confidence indicator: a warning badge when the AI flags unclear intent or missing context
• Files changed panel: collapsible panel showing every changed file with status (current, explained, upcoming)
• Step notes: a text area at the bottom of each step for personal notes; notes are saved per-step and persist across sessions
• Font size: A+ / A− controls in the step header scale the entire panel up or down; setting is remembered
• Scroll memory: returning to a step restores where you were in the explanation

Explanation modes

• Explain dumber: simpler explanation aimed at someone just learning to code
• Rephrase: a completely different take on the same concept
• What changed: reviewer lens — what changed, why, and trade-offs
• Explain code: learner lens — what the code conceptually does
• What could go wrong?: risk lens — edge cases, unchecked errors, race conditions, and fragile code for this specific step

Ask and compare

• Ask Grug: type any question about the current step and get a plain-English answer streamed into the panel; answers persist when you return to the step
• Compare steps: pick any other step from a dropdown and ask how the two relate to each other

Summary-level AI tools

• QA checklist: generates a manual testing checklist for the whole diff — specific to the actual functions and files changed, not generic advice; items are interactive checkboxes you can tick off
• What could go wrong?: full-diff risk analysis across all changes — edge cases, unchecked errors, security concerns, and fragile code; rendered as a collapsible list with risk items
• Both the checklist and risk analysis are saved in your session and reappear when you return to the summary or navigate between steps

Export, import, and sharing

• Export as .md: save the full lesson as a Markdown file, including any step notes you have added
• Import lesson: open any previously exported .md to restore the lesson without re-running AI
• Post to GitHub: post the lesson as a comment on the GitHub PR; uses VS Code's built-in GitHub authentication (no PAT required); the comment includes a one-click link that opens the lesson directly in VS Code for any teammate who reads it
• Re-analyze: re-fetches the latest diff and regenerates the lesson from scratch

Keyboard shortcuts

Press ? in the step view to show or hide the shortcut reference.

Reliability

• Session resume: close VS Code and reopen — ELIG remembers your last session, step position, notes, checklist, and risk analysis
• Restart session: hit ↺ at any time to discard the current session and start fresh
• Error retry: if an AI call fails, a retry button appears in place
• Progress indicators: streaming operations show a live progress indicator so the panel never looks frozen

AI

• Works with any language model available in VS Code via the Language Model API — no separate API key needed
• Compatible with GitHub Copilot, Claude for VS Code, and any other LM extension

Requirements

You need at least one language model installed in VS Code:

• GitHub Copilot
• Claude for VS Code

Settings

Commands

All commands are also available as buttons in the ELIG sidebar panel.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.