Octochat

Inspiration

When approaching a large repository, it is often difficult to parse through the whole codebase. The average time expected for a new developer (not intern) to become fully productive is about 7 months. That's why we made Octochat: a personal assistant that answers any question you have about any codebase, big or small, with the potential to onboard developers (including ourselves) faster and dive into what's important.

What it does

Octochat helps developers understand a new code file by allowing them to ask questions about how code snippets or functions work, search for where something has been implemented, how to debug an error, help generate better documentation if needed, and overall, more quickly understand the layers of code.

How we built it

We integrated Voiceflow's API in a wxt-based extension, leveraging complex AI agents to navigate equally complex codebases. The front end was created with React and Typescript

Challenges we ran into

We struggled with injecting the pop up using an extension, and barriers using VoiceFlow's chatbot design, which led to the need for a custom design. We also ran into difficulty with the frontend making a post request and connecting the request from the user.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of getting the backend working.

What we learned

We learned how to use the WXT framework.

What's next for Octochat

Next,

Some other features brainstormed include:

Version control integration: Allowing the chatbot to analyze differences between versions of a repository, helping users understand how changes in the codebase affect functionality.