Google aims to make life easier for programmers, as shown by the wave of AI tools it has introduced in recent months. Shortly after unveiling Gemini 2.0, the tech giant announced that Code Assist, its code completion and generation tool, now supports third-party integrations. This new feature allows it to connect with platforms like GitHub, Atlassian, and others.
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Code Assist is the successor to Duet AI, an assistant introduced at I/O 2023 that used generative AI to help developers. Its purpose was to offer real-time code suggestions, chat-based support, and features tailored for business needs. Over a year later, Google has rebranded it as Code Assist and positioned it as an alternative to GitHub’s Copilot.
In practical terms, the support for third-party tools functions like Gemini extensions, enabling seamless connections to data sources such as GitLab, GitHub, Sentry.io, Atlassian, Snyk, and Google Docs. This integration allows developers to use Code Assist directly within their IDEs without needing to switch to a different window. Running on Gemini 2.0 Flash, it provides faster, higher-quality responses with reduced latency during programming.
According to Google, these tools enable developers to access information or perform actions on any part of the engineering system. By staying within the IDE, developers can avoid distractions and stay focused, which helps improve productivity and code quality.
Another key benefit of Code Assist is its ability to provide real-time access to data and integrated tools. This feature reduces the chances of errors, making the development process smoother and more efficient.
Code Assist leverages Gemini 2.0 to help developers identify and fix programming errors efficiently.
Google has announced that third-party tool support for Code Assist will initially be available to a limited number of users. For now, the company is prioritizing Google Cloud partners, but there are plans to expand access in the future as part of its strategy to compete with GitHub Copilot.
“There are a lot of other tools that a developer uses over the course of a day. They might use GitHub, Atlassian, Jira, DataDog, Snyk, or all of these other tools. What we wanted to do is enable developers to bring that additional context to their IDE,” said Ryan J. Salva, Google’s director of product management, in an interview with VentureBeat.
Another similar tool is Jules, an AI-powered agent built on Gemini 2.0 that can automatically fix errors in source code. According to Google, Jules excels at handling time-consuming tasks, especially in large projects with thousands of lines of code. The agent can identify bugs and suggest fixes, but it’s up to the user to decide whether to accept and apply the changes to the source code. Unlike Code Assist, Jules is still in its early development stage. It may take a few months for Google to resolve existing issues and make the tool available to a wider group of users.
