VSCodingBuddy

This is an Visual Studio 2022 extension that makes use of the OpenAI API, to generate and read out loud messages with a custom personality, whenever a project fails to build, or a runtime exception is hit.

• Features
• Built With
• Setup
• Configuration
• Links
• License

Features

GPT-3 Messages

Generate messages about build errors and exceptions whilst coding, using OpenAIs GPT-3.5-turbo model. Uses code snippets and error messages for increased context.

TTS

Read aloud the generated messages, using built in Windows Text To Speech.

Customization

Customize the personality of the messages with the personality editor. Specify a prompt for both Build errors and Exceptions. A default "Rude" personality is included in the extension, as well as the "Helpful" and "Maid" personality.

The editor is found under:

Tools > Options > VSCodingBuddy > Personalities

Token limiter

Limit number of tokens used using a number of strategies.

• Random chance for errors to trigger a speech.
• Limit max number of tokens used pr. message.
• Avoid repeat error scenarios, where the error has already occurred.
• Truncate code snippets and error messages.

Built With

• OpenAI Chat Completion (GPT-3)
• Betalgo.OpenAI (OpenAI API Library)
• System.Speech (Text To Speech)
• See visual studio solution in the github repository for all dependencies.

Setup

In order to use this extension, an OpenAI API key is needed.

For a guide to retrieve this key, please see the OpenAI Setup section.

OpenAI Setup

An OpenAI key is needed in order to use the OpenAI API. This is not free, however OpenAI gives you a free 5$ for the first 3 months of usage. The pricing is also in general extremely cheap (<0.002$ for a messages). This number can vary depending on the Token limiter strategies used.

To retrieve an OpenAI key follow the steps below.

• Go to the OpenAI developer page
• Create account or login.
• Go to "View API Keys" under the profile menu, in the top right corner.
• Press "Create new secret key"
• Store the key for the next steps in the setup guide.

VSCodingBuddy Setup

The VSCodingBuddy extension needs the OpenAI key in order to function. To inform the extension about this key, follow the below steps.

• Go to Tools > Options > VSCodingBuddy > General
• Put the OpenAI key value under the OpenAI > OpenAI API Key field.

The extension is now setup and should function normally. Additional options can be found under the General and Personalities options page.

Configuration

All configurable options can be found under the Tools > Options > VSCodingBuddy page.

General

Each option under the general page contains a brief description, which can be referred to.

Personalities

This menu should be used, when editing, adding or deleting personalities.

Editing

Whenever the name or prompt fields are edited, the save button can be used to override the selected personalities values, or the new button can be used, to create a new personality, with the current name and prompts.

Compressing

prompts can optionally be compressed, by pressing the compress button. This works by telling a GPT-3 model to summerise the prompt, which leads to a smaller number of tokens for the prompt. This compression strategy does not always produce a desired result, so make sure to make a backup of the original prompt.

Links

Github -> https://github.com/karstensensensen/VSCodingBuddy

Visual Studio Marketplace -> https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=zarstensen.vscb-1

License

See LICENSE.TXT