DevAI – AI Coding Assistant for VS Code

Production-grade AI coding assistant powered by Claude, with live web search and inline completions.

Features

Feature	Description
💬 AI Chat Sidebar	Full chat interface, like Copilot Chat — ask anything about your code
🔍 Live Web Search	Finds the latest docs, APIs, and Stack Overflow solutions in real time
👻 Inline Completions	Ghost-text autocomplete as you type (Tab to accept)
⚡ Streaming Responses	See answers appear word-by-word, no waiting
🐛 Debug & Fix	Select buggy code → right-click → DevAI: Debug
✨ Generate Code	Describe what you need, get production-ready code
🔬 Explain Code	Deep explanation of any selected code block
♻️ Refactor	Modernize and improve existing code
🧪 Unit Tests	Auto-generate test suites for selected code
📝 Add Comments	Add JSDoc / docstrings automatically
📎 Context-Aware	Sends your current file, language, and cursor position as context
🎨 Theme-Aware	Matches your VS Code dark/light theme
🔒 Secure Key Storage	API key stored in VS Code's encrypted SecretStorage

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace (recommended)

Open VS Code
Press Ctrl+P and run: ext install devai.devai-assistant

Manual (.vsix)

Download the latest .vsix from Releases
In VS Code: Extensions → … → Install from VSIX

From source

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/devai-vscode
cd devai-vscode
npm install
npm run build

Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.

Setup

Get a free API key at console.anthropic.com
In VS Code, run DevAI: Set Claude API Key from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Click the DevAI icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar) to open the chat

Usage

Click the DevAI icon in the Activity Bar. Choose a mode:

Chat — general coding questions
Generate — describe what to build
Debug — paste errors or broken code
Explain — understand unfamiliar code
Refactor — improve existing code
Tests — generate unit tests

Select any code → right-click → DevAI ✦ submenu:

DevAI ✦
  ├── Explain Selected Code
  ├── Debug / Fix Selected Code
  ├── Refactor Selected Code
  ├── Generate Unit Tests
  └── Add JSDoc / Comments

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+Shift+A`	Open DevAI Chat
`Ctrl+Shift+E`	Explain selected code
`Ctrl+Shift+G`	Generate code
`Ctrl+Shift+D`	Debug selected code
`Ctrl+Shift+R`	Refactor selected code

Inline Completions

Start typing and DevAI will suggest completions as ghost text. Press Tab to accept.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`devai.model`	`claude-sonnet-4-6`	Claude model to use
`devai.enableInlineCompletion`	`true`	Enable ghost-text completions
`devai.inlineCompletionDelay`	`600`	Debounce delay (ms)
`devai.maxTokens`	`2048`	Max response length
`devai.webSearch`	`true`	Enable live web search
`devai.contextLines`	`100`	Lines of context sent to AI

Publishing to VS Code Marketplace

Create a publisher on VS Code Marketplace
Update publisher in package.json
Get a Personal Access Token from Azure DevOps
Add it as VSCE_PAT in your GitHub repo secrets
Push a version tag: git tag v1.0.0 && git push --tags

The GitHub Actions workflow will automatically build and publish.

Architecture

devai-vscode/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts          # Entry point — wires everything
│   ├── api/
│   │   └── claude.ts         # Claude API client (streaming + web search)
│   ├── webview/
│   │   └── ChatPanel.ts      # Sidebar chat UI (WebviewViewProvider)
│   ├── providers/
│   │   └── CompletionProvider.ts  # Inline ghost-text completions
│   ├── commands/
│   │   └── index.ts          # All VS Code command registrations
│   └── utils/
│       └── context.ts        # Editor context extraction
├── .github/workflows/
│   └── release.yml           # CI + Marketplace publish pipeline
├── esbuild.js                # Build script
└── package.json              # Extension manifest

Contributing

npm install          # Install deps
npm run watch        # Watch mode (rebuilds on change)
# Press F5 in VS Code → launches Extension Development Host

PRs welcome! Please open an issue first for large changes.

DevAI – AI Coding Assistant

DevAI