Codex Lens

🚀 Intelligent Code Explanations at Your Fingertips

Codex Lens is a powerful VS Code extension that provides AI-powered code explanations and insights directly in your editor. Simply hover over any API, function, or code element to get instant, contextual explanations powered by advanced language models.

✨ Features

• 🔍 Intelligent Hover Explanations: Get detailed explanations of APIs, functions, and code elements by simply hovering over them
• 🌍 Multi-Language Support: Works with 20+ programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Go, Rust, C++, and more
• 🧠 Context-Aware Analysis: Analyzes surrounding code, imports, and function context for accurate explanations
• ⚡ Real-time Processing: Fast, responsive AI-powered analysis with request caching to avoid duplicates
• 🛠️ Flexible LLM Integration: Compatible with various language models (Claude, GPT-4, etc.) via OpenAI-compatible APIs
• 📝 Rich Markdown Output: Beautiful, formatted explanations with syntax highlighting and structured information

What You Get in Each Explanation:

• API Core Functionality: Clear explanation of the main purpose and features
• Parameter Details: Type and purpose of each parameter
• Return Values: Description of what the API returns
• Usage Examples: Practical code examples based on your context
• Best Practices: Important considerations, error handling, and performance tips

📋 Requirements

• VS Code version 1.91.0 or higher
• An API key for a compatible language model service (Claude, OpenAI, etc.)
• Internet connection for API calls

⚙️ Extension Settings

Configure Codex Lens through VS Code settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,):

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install the Extension: Install Codex Lens from the VS Code marketplace
2. Configure API Settings:
   • Open VS Code settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,)
   • Search for "Codex Lens"
   • Set your apiKey and baseUrl
3. Start Using: Simply hover over any code element in supported languages to get instant explanations!

Example Configuration:

{
    "codexLens.apiKey": "your-api-key-here",
    "codexLens.baseUrl": "https://api.anthropic.com",
    "codexLens.model": "claude-3-5-haiku-20241022",
    "codexLens.maxTokens": 1000,
    "codexLens.temperature": 0.7
}

🔧 Supported Languages

Codex Lens works with a wide range of programming languages:

• Web Development: JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, SCSS, Less, Vue, React, JSX, TSX
• Backend Languages: Python, Java, C#, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Kotlin, Swift, Scala
• Systems Languages: C, C++
• Data & Scripting: R, Julia, Lua, Perl, SQL
• Shell Scripting: Shell, PowerShell
• Mobile Development: Dart (Flutter), Swift, Kotlin

🎯 How It Works

1. Context Detection: When you hover over code, Codex Lens analyzes the surrounding context
2. Smart Parsing: Extracts relevant information including imports, function context, and code structure
3. AI Processing: Sends the context to your configured language model for analysis
4. Rich Display: Shows formatted explanations with syntax highlighting and structured information

🐛 Known Issues

• First-time API calls may take a few seconds depending on your LLM service response time
• Some complex code patterns may require additional context for optimal explanations
• Network connectivity issues may prevent explanations from loading

📈 Release Notes

0.0.1

• Initial release of Codex Lens
• Multi-language hover explanations
• Configurable LLM integration
• Context-aware code analysis
• Request caching and error handling

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with the VS Code Extension API
• Powered by advanced language models
• Inspired by the need for better code understanding tools

Happy Coding with Codex Lens! 🚀