Codexia-VSC: Your Collaborative AI Coding Partner

Codexia-VSC is a Visual Studio Code extension that integrates a sophisticated AI coding partner directly into your editor. It's designed to facilitate a safe, transparent, and highly collaborative development workflow, bringing the power of a structured AI partnership to any project.

(Screenshot placeholder: A clean view of the Codexia sidebar showing a plan with approval buttons.)

Core Philosophy

This extension is not just a code generator; it's a dedicated environment for a structured partnership between a human developer and an AI. Our entire workflow is built on three core principles:

1. Clarity: We fight ambiguity. Vague goals are refined into concrete plans before any code is written.
2. Collaboration: The human-in-the-loop is mandatory. The AI proposes a plan and a visual diff of the changes, and the human developer gives the final approval. Every significant change is a dialogue.
3. Caution: We prioritize stability over speed. The extension acts as a secure sandbox, with the AI requesting actions rather than executing them directly.

Key Features

• Full Workspace Context: The AI can read your entire workspace (while respecting .gitignore) to provide truly context-aware analysis and suggestions.
• Native Diff Viewer: Before you apply any changes, the extension opens VS Code's native diff viewer, showing you every line that will be added, removed, or modified. There are no blind approvals.
• Hypothesis-Plan-Confirm Workflow: Our proven method for debugging and feature creation is built directly into the UI, with clear approval and rejection controls for every proposed plan.
• Configurable Best Practices: Configure the extension to point to a central Git repository for your team's DEVELOPMENT_BEST_PRACTICES.md, ensuring the AI always operates under your specific guidelines.
• Session-Aware Context: The AI maintains a session-level cache of recent changes, making its suggestions progressively smarter and more relevant to your current task.

Getting Started

1. Installation

You can install Codexia-VSC directly from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.

2. Configuration

1. Get a Gemini API Key: Obtain a free API key from Google AI Studio.
2. Set the API Key: Open your VS Code User Settings (JSON) and add the following line:

   "codexia-vsc.geminiApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
   

3. (Optional) Set Best Practices URL: To give the AI custom instructions, add a link to a public DEVELOPMENT_BEST_PRACTICES.md file on GitHub:

   "codexia-vsc.bestPracticesGitUrl": "[https://github.com/tamplite/codexia-best-practices/blob/main/DEVELOPMENT_BEST_PRACTICES.md](https://github.com/tamplite/codexia-best-practices/blob/main/DEVELOPMENT_BEST_PRACTICES.md)"
   

3. Usage

1. Click the Codexia icon in the activity bar to open the sidebar.
2. Type a high-level goal or bug report into the input box and send it.
3. The AI will analyze your project and propose a plan.
4. Review the plan and choose an action (Approve, Reject, Clarify, etc.).
5. If you approve, a native diff view will open.
6. Review the code changes and click the ✅ (Accept) or ❌ (Reject) button in the editor's title bar.

This project is built in partnership with Codexia, an AI collaborator, using the very principles it embodies.