Network as Code (NaC) AI Assistant README

VS Code extension that utilizes Catalyst Center Ansible IaC (Infrastructure as Code) workflows and playbooks to streamline and automate network management on Catalyst Center.

Features
Prerequisites
Setup
LLM Model Performance - Playbook Classification
Examples

Features

AI-Powered Chat Assistance

Generate YAML Code: Use the @assistant chat assistant to generate YAML vars files tailored to your task by identifying the best workflow, playbook, and schema.
Ask Questions: Use the @assistant /ask chat command to get answers to general and technical questions about Catalyst Center, Ansible, and related topics.
Validate YAML Code: Use the @assistant /validate chat command to validate YAML code using Yamale, Ansible Lint, and YAMLlint.
Leverages GitHub Copilot chat to provide additional assistance & features.
Note: @assistant is only for identifying the playbook & generating vars file code for a user task. To modify existing code, use @assistant /ask and provide the relevant file as context.

In-Editor Commands

Validate & Lint: Instantly run schema validation and linting on your currently open vars file, with AI-generated annotations for error fixing.
- Note: This command requires that a vars file is open in the editor.
Run Playbook: Execute the appropriate Ansible playbook for your task by selecting the hosts, playbook, and vars files, with automatic Catalyst Center integration and detailed logs.
- Note: This command requires that a vars file exists in your project.

Inline YAML Annotations

Receive inline suggestions and error messages directly in your editor based on validation and linting results.
This feature is available with the "Validate & Lint" command listed above

Seamless GitHub Integration

Always access the latest workflows, playbooks, and schemas from the catalyst-center-ansible-iac repository.
NOTE: By default, the most updated version of the catalyst-center-ansible-iac repository is cloned.

Fast, Context-Aware Responses

Utilizes a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) approach for rapid, relevant answers.
NOTE: The first user prompt after activation or after a GitHub re-clone may take around 30 seconds due to initialization; all other responses are typically delivered in ~3 seconds.

Below is a consolidated table of the provided commands / actions.

Command / Action	Location	Description
`@assistant`	Chat	Generate YAML vars files for your task by identifying the best workflow, playbook, and schema.
`@assistant /ask`	Chat	Get answers to general and technical questions about Catalyst Center, Ansible, and related topics.
`@assistant /validate`	Chat	Validate YAML code using Yamale, Ansible Lint, and YAMLlint.
Validate & Lint ✔️	Editor Menu	Instantly run schema validation and linting on your open vars file, with AI-generated annotations for error fixing.
Run Playbook ▶️	Editor Menu	Execute the appropriate Ansible playbook for your task, integrating with Catalyst Center and generating comprehensive logs.
Inline YAML Annotations	Editor	Receive inline suggestions and error messages based on "Validate & Lint" results.

NOTE: The @assistant /validate command creates a temporary file to run validation on, leaving your original files untouched.

Important Note

As mentioned above in the features, the latest version of the catalyst-center-ansible-iac repository is automatically cloned into your workspace as ai-assistant-catalyst-center-ansible-iac. Please do not modify this folder, as it is managed by the extension and used to support its functionality.
This cloned folder will be automatically updated to reflect new changes and workflows.

Prerequisites

Before continuing, please ensure you have the following prerequisites:

Access to a Cisco Catalyst Center instance
Proper network connectivity to utilize and interact with Cisco Catalyst Center
Access to GitHub Copilot
A project folder open in VS Code

Setup

The setup (environment creation, dependency installation, data & inventory folder creation) has been automated, so please wait about 1 minute for the setup process to finish.
Important: After setup is complete, make sure to update the hosts.yaml file under the newly created ansible_inventory/catalystcenter_inventory folder in your VS Code project's root directory.
You are now ready to use all the commands and features of this extension! See the examples below for more detailed images of how to use these features.
NOTE: If you run into any additional issues, with the extension, try executing the following terminal commands and reloading your VS Code window (Command + Shift + P —> "Developer: Reload Window"). The version_number below refers to the extension version number you are currently using (e.g. 0.0.4)

cd ~/.vscode/extensions/cisco-vscode-solutions.nac-copilot-<version_number>
npm install --platform=darwin --arch=arm64 sharp

LLM Model Performance - Playbook Classification

You may choose any Copilot LLM model available. Both GPT-4.1 and Claude-3.5 have the same playbook classification accuracy (96.27%). (Note that Claude-3.5 is included with the free version of GitHub Copilot, but GPT-4.1 is only available with the paid version.)