AI Studio

AI Studio is a Visual Studio 2022 extension that adds AI-assisted code generation, refactoring, documentation, testing, and security analysis to the IDE directly from the context menu.

• Download from Visual Studio Marketplace
• Report an issue or request a feature

Table of Contents

• Highlights
• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Command Cheat Sheet
• Feature Walkthrough
• Configuration
• Advanced Customization
• Troubleshooting and Feedback
• License

Highlights

• Seamless right-click workflow across C#, XAML, and most text-based files inside Visual Studio.
• Works with your own OpenAI key (or any compatible endpoint) so you stay in control of data and cost.
• Generates or updates code while preserving formatting, documentation, and project conventions.
• Built-in commands for documentation, explanations, security review, and unit test creation keep teams in flow.

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 17.6 or later with the VSIX extension workload installed.
• An active OpenAI API key (or a compatible Azure/OpenAI endpoint) with network access from the IDE.
• .NET Framework 4.8 SDK (installed with Visual Studio) for local builds.

Installation

Marketplace (recommended)

1. Open Visual Studio and choose Extensions > Manage Extensions.
2. Search for AI Studio.
3. Click Download and restart Visual Studio to complete the installation.

Build from source

1. Clone or fork this repository.
2. Open AI Studio.sln in Visual Studio 2022.
3. Build the solution in Release mode.
4. Double-click the generated .vsix under bin\Release to install it into your local instance.

Quick Start

1. Create an API key at OpenAI (or configure your own endpoint).
2. Configure AI Studio via Tools > Options > AI Studio and paste the key into the General page.
3. Pick a feature (for example, Code It) by selecting code, right-clicking, and choosing the desired AI Studio command.

Using Private or Self-Hosted LLMs

AI Studio can call any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including private or on-prem LLM gateways:

1. In Tools > Options > AI Studio > General, switch the Base URL to your private endpoint (for example, https://llm.internal/api/v1).
2. Enter the API key/token issued by your internal gateway.
3. (Optional) In Tools > Options > AI Studio > Commands, override individual commands to target different models (gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini, my-company-llm) or apply custom instructions.

Example setups

• Point to Azure OpenAI by pasting the resource URL and deployment name, then set the API version in Advanced options.
• Target a self-hosted Llama/phi/DeepSeek deployment behind an OpenAI-compatible proxy such as litellm or Text Generation Inference.
• Mix providers: keep Code It on OpenAI, but route Security Check to an internal compliance-tuned model via the Commands page.

Command Cheat Sheet

Feature Walkthrough

Code It

1. Place the caret on an empty method or select a stub.
2. Right-click and choose AI Studio > Code It.
3. Review the generated implementation and accept or adjust as needed.

Result

Add Comments

1. Highlight the code you want documented.
2. Run AI Studio > Add Comments.
3. AI Studio adds concise inline comments without disturbing formatting.

Refactor

1. Select a method or block.
2. Choose AI Studio > Refactor.
3. Compare the result with the original and apply the pieces you want to keep.

Add Summary

1. Select a method header or type declaration.
2. Run AI Studio > Add Summary.
3. Automatically generates XML documentation that matches the signature.

Explain

1. Highlight unfamiliar code.
2. Choose AI Studio > Explain.
3. A popup summarizes what the code does and why.

Security Check

1. Select code that handles I/O, crypto, or user data.
2. Run AI Studio > Security Check.
3. Review the flagged issues and suggested mitigations.

Unit Test Generation

1. Highlight a method to test.
2. Run AI Studio > Add Unit Tests.
3. AI Studio generates arrange/act/assert scaffolding tailored to the method.

Test Configuration

Configure test generation under Tools > Options > AI Studio > Unit Test.

• Custom instructions let you specify frameworks (xUnit, NUnit, MSTest), naming rules, or mocking preferences.
• Response behavior controls how aggressively tests are regenerated versus appended.

Configuration

All configuration lives under Tools > Options > AI Studio:

• General
  • Paste your API key, pick the default model, and decide whether to format AI changes automatically.
  • Toggle telemetry/diagnostics and adjust temperature or response size if needed.
• Commands
  • Override the system prompt for each command, enforce coding guidelines, or switch to a custom model per command.
• Unit Test
  • Choose the target test framework, namespace, class name template, and add reusable instructions for deterministic tests.

Advanced Customization

• Custom prompts per command: Tailor Refactor to focus on performance while Configure Comments to prioritize XML docs using Tools > Options > AI Studio > Commands.
• Bring your own endpoint: Point the extension at Azure OpenAI, a private/self-hosted LLM gateway, or any OpenAI-compatible proxy by entering the base URL and model ID in the General page.
• Formatting control: Enable Format changed text to run Visual Studio formatting on every AI edit to keep diffs clean.
• Response behavior: Decide whether AI should insert results inline, append to the Output window first, or prompt for confirmation.

Example result

Troubleshooting and Feedback

• Verify your API key and quota if requests fail; the Output tool window surfaces errors returned by the provider.
• Ensure Visual Studio can reach the OpenAI endpoint (corporate proxies may need to allowlist it).
• Capture screenshots/logs and open an issue for bugs or ideas.
• Contributions are welcome via pull requests; please include before/after screenshots for UI tweaks.

License

AI Studio is released under the MIT License. Use it in personal or commercial projects with attribution.