aidev: A personalized pair programming assistant

This project provides a personalized AI assistant that can be used through a CLI or as a VSCode extension. It supports multiple LLM API providers and offers various tools and commands for enhanced interaction.

Prerequisites

Before running the AI assistant, ensure that:

1. A preferences.yaml file exist at the target location. This controls which providers and models are available to aidev.

   # Create the preferences directory
   mkdir -p ~/.config/aidev
   
   # Move the sample preferences to the target location
   cp preferences.yaml.sample ~/.config/aidev/preferences.yaml

   The default location for this file is in ~/.config/aidev/, but you can override this location by setting the AIDEV_PREFERENCES_DIR environment variable:

   export AIDEV_PREFERENCES_DIR="/custom/path/to/preferences/dir"

2. API keys are configured for your chosen LLM provider(s). Store your API keys in ~/.config/aidev/keys/ following this convention:

   # Create the config directory
   mkdir -p ~/.config/aidev/keys
   
   # Store your API keys (one per file)
   echo 'your-api-key' > ~/.config/aidev/keys/openai.key
   chmod 600 ~/.config/aidev/keys/*.key  # Secure the files

   By default, keys are stored in ~/.config/aidev/keys, but you can override this location by setting the AIDEV_KEY_DIR environment variable:

   export AIDEV_KEY_DIR="/custom/path/to/keys/dir"

   Key files for each provider are required to use the provider's configured models:

   • anthropic.key
   • openai.key
   • google.key
   • groq.key

3. The code command is available on your PATH. This is typically installed with Visual Studio Code.

4. For the VSCode extension to work properly, the CLI run instructions must be aliased to 'ai'. Add this alias to your shell configuration file:

   alias ai='node /path/to/aidev/dist/cli.js'

   Replace /path/to/aidev with the path to this project.

Installation

CLI

To build and run the latest from source:

yarn
yarn dev

Or:

yarn
yarn build
node ./dist/cli.js "$@"

VSCode Extension

To build and install the VSCode extension:

yarn
yarn vsix

In VSCode, select Extensions: Install from VSIX from the command palette and select the ai-0.0.0.vsix payload from the above command.

Usage

LLM API Providers

Available LLM API providers:

• Anthropic
• OpenAI
• Google
• Groq
• Ollama

Available Tools

Tools available to the LLMs:

• shell_execute: Execute a zsh command.
• read_directories: Reads the contents of directories into the conversation.
• read_files: Reads the contents of files into the conversation.
• write_file: Writes contents to a file.
• edit_file: Modifies the contents of an existing file.

Meta Commands

The following meta commands have special behaviors to manipulate the context or conversation. All other user input is added as a user message to the conversation.

• :branch <branch>: Create a new branch in the conversation.
• :clear: Clear all messages in the conversation.
• :continue: Re-prompt the model without a user message.
• :exit: Exit the conversation.
• :help: Display available commands.
• :load <patterns, ...>: Load file contents into the conversation.
• :loaddir <patterns, ...>: Load directory entries into the conversation.
• :model <model>: Change the model backing the assistant.
• :models: List available models.
• :prompt: Draft a prompt in VSCode.
• :redo: Redo the last undone action.
• :remove <branch>: Remove a branch and all its messages.
• :rename <from_branch> <to_branch>: Rename an existing branch.
• :rollback <savepoint>: Rollback to a previously defined savepoint.
• :save: Save the conversation to a file.
• :savepoint <name>: Mark a point in the conversation to which you can rollback.
• :shell: Run a shell command and include its output in the conversation.
• :status: Show the branch topology of the conversation.
• :switch <branch>: Switch to an existing branch.
• :undo: Undo the last user action.
• :unload [<patterns, ...>]: Remove matching files or directories from the conversation.
• :unstash [<patterns, ...>]: Remove stashed file(s) from the chat context.
• :write <path>: Write a stashed file to disk.

Project Configuration

The root of your project (where you launch the CLI) can contain special files to configure the behavior of the assistant:

• aidev.system: Will be injected verbatim into the system prompt.
• aidev.ignore: Can contain gitignore-like patterns that will filter out files or directories from being read into the context.

VSCode Extension Features

The VSCode extension provides the following features:

1. "Open aidev" command in the VSCode command palette.
2. "Open aidev with a specific model" command in the VSCode command palette.
3. Quick access to "Open aidev" using the keyboard shortcut Command+Shift+I.
4. Automatic injection of open editor files into the conversation context when using the extension.

These commands and features make it easy to interact with the AI assistant directly from your VSCode environment.