AIPromptCompiler

A VS Code extension for creating AI prompts with code references from large codebases. Navigate files quickly, insert file paths into your prompts, and compile referenced files into comprehensive AI-ready prompts.

This extension is a fork of FindItFaster with added functionality for AI prompt creation. Make sure to check the Requirements below (TL;DR: have fzf, rg, bat on your PATH).

Default key bindings:

• cmd+shift+j / ctrl+shift+j to search files,
• cmd+shift+u / ctrl+shift+u to search for text within files,
• cmd+shift+ctrl+u / ctrl+shift+alt+u to search for text within files with type pre-filtering,
• cmd+2 / ctrl+2 to insert file path at cursor,
• cmd+3 / ctrl+3 to copy a line range reference to clipboard.
• cmd+4 / ctrl+4 to compile prompt with referenced file contents,

You can change these using VS Code's keyboard shortcuts.

Recommended settings:

• set ai-prompt-compiler.general.useTerminalInEditor to true to have the extension window open in the editor panel rather than in the terminal panel.

Native Windows support is now implemented (experimental)! Also see Known Issues.

Features

This extension is designed for creating AI prompts with code references from large monorepos. It combines fast file navigation with specialized tools for AI prompt creation:

1. Fast file navigation - Quickly find and reference files in large codebases using fzf and ripgrep
2. Path insertion - Insert file paths directly into your prompts with the "link file" command
3. AI prompt compilation - Extract code from referenced files and compile them into a comprehensive prompt
4. Line range references - Specify exact code sections by referencing specific line ranges

This plugin is particularly useful if you deal with very large projects with lots of files (which makes VS Code's search functionality quite slow), or when you need to create detailed AI prompts that reference multiple code files.

This extension exposes seven commands:

1. Search file - Find and open files quickly using a combination of fzf, rg, and bat.
2. Search within files - Find text within files and open the matches. Uses fzf, rg, and bat.
3. Search within files with type filter - Like above, but limit searches to specific file types.
4. Link file - Search for a file and insert its path (in ${path} format) at the cursor position. Supports both absolute and relative paths, configurable in settings. Essential for referencing code in your prompts.
5. Resume search - Repeat the last command with the previous query pre-populated.
6. Compile prompt - Transform a document containing file references (in ${path} or ${path[line-range]} format) into a complete prompt with all referenced code contents included. The resulting document is ready to be sent to AI models.
7. Copy line range reference - Copy a reference to the selected line range in the format ${/path/to/file.ext[33-45]} to the clipboard. Perfect for referencing specific sections of code. If no text is selected, it copies just the file path in ${path} format.

If your active text editor has a selection, it will be used as the initial query (you can disable this setting).

⬇️  Find files

⬇️  Find text within files

⬇️  Find text within files, with file type filter

This extension has also been tested on remote workspaces (e.g. SSH sessions).

Requirements

This plugin opens a terminal inside VS Code. Make sure that you can run fzf, rg, bat, and sed by running these commands directly in your terminal. If those work, this plugin will work as expected. If it doesn't, confirm that you are running recent versions of all three tools.

If you're not familiar with these command line tools, you might want to check them out. They are awesome tools that can be individually used and make you more productive. And when combined such as for instance in this extension, they're very powerful. They're available for many platforms and easy to install using package managers or by simply installing a binary.

• fzf ("command-line fuzzy finder")
• rg ("ripgrep")
• bat ("a cat clone with wings")

I have no affiliation with any of these tools, but hugely appreciate them, and wanted to bring them into a VS Code context.

Extension Settings

See the settings for this extension in the GUI. You might want to play with fzf, rg and bat on the command line and read their manuals in order to get a better understanding of some of the settings in this extension. It will be worth your time.

fzf can also be configured through various environment variables. This extension does nothing to disable that behavior, so feel free to use those. You can also check whether fzf is running inside this extension by checking whether the AI_PROMPT_COMPILER_ACTIVE environment variable is set.

AI Prompt Workflow

This extension facilitates a streamlined workflow for creating AI prompts with code references:

1. Create a prompt document - Start with a document where you'll write your prompt to the AI
2. Reference files - Use the "Link file" command (cmd+2/ctrl+2) to quickly insert file references in ${path} format
3. Reference line ranges - Use the "Copy line range reference" command (cmd+3/ctrl+3) to copy specific code sections
4. Compile the prompt - Use the "Compile prompt" command (cmd+4/ctrl+4) to generate a complete prompt with all referenced code

The compiled prompt file will have:

• All file paths simplified to just filenames (e.g., ${file.ts} instead of ${/path/to/file.ts})
• A "File References" section appended with all referenced file contents
• Proper language syntax highlighting for each code block based on file extension

This workflow is particularly useful when working with large codebases and AI models that don't have direct access to your filesystem.