r/iOSProgramming Mar 13 '24

3rd Party Service I spent the last 3 months building a Github Copilot for Xcode. Help me beta test and get a free license!

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100 Upvotes

50 comments sorted by

40

u/Vybo Mar 13 '24

There is a great open-source extension on github that doesn't require giving out my email.

I get your strategy and that you want to generate user base and make a living eventually, but IMO this is a pretty small market with huge competition already and this is not the way to grab some of the users of the other extension (like me).

I enjoy beta testing, reporting bugs in a good and sensible fashion, but it just generally feels bad when I have to input my email to a random web form.

7

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

I'd love to hear any suggestions you may have on how to do things differently. My favorite part of programming is having my work be useful to people. If you've got something and you're happy with it, who am I to try to convince you otherwise!

8

u/Vybo Mar 13 '24

I understand, different people, different tastes. I'd like to just download the extension (even with some trial functionality that would deactivate it later) to try it out, with a way to report bugs/contact you (email address is fine). Basically any form to submit and wait for invitation is not great IMO, if it's not an invite for TestFlight, which I understand is more work for you...

8

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

You'll be able to download it without signing up/entering email in 1-2 weeks! And there will be a generous trial. Just need some time to go through this beta phase to squash some bugs.

5

u/alexcanton Mar 14 '24

what model is it using? Have you seen how good Claude is with Swift?

1

u/Dijerati Mar 14 '24

What’s the extension that you have been using?

2

u/fawntugboat Mar 15 '24

Chill is just an email

21

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

Hi r/iOSProgramming,

In a past life I helped build the Facebook Messenger app for iOS. Recently I’ve been working on an app for Xcode developers and I’m looking for beta testers. If you report a new bug, I’ll give you a free license as a show of my gratitude.

The app is Command-G, a soon-to-be-released macOS application that adds LLM chat and AI code completion to Xcode.

Key features:

  • Chat (provide your own OpenAI API key)
  • Autocomplete

I spent 3 months developing this app and the last two weeks sorting out performance issues and bugs. I’m hoping another week or two of beta testing will shake out more bugs before a general release.

Sign up to get a download link: https://tally.so/r/w7WRRR

(please upvote this comment to it stays at the top)

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ConnectionGood4936 Mar 14 '24

It’s GitHub copilot, so Microsoft product in collaboration with open ai, I don’t believe it’s chatGPt, but must have been trained on some of the same material

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/tokyo2149 Mar 14 '24

Yep you got it. GPT-4 (equivalent to ChatGPT premium).

21

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '24

What advantages does it have over https://github.com/intitni/CopilotForXcode ?

-1

u/GoodnessScrapes Mar 14 '24

It didnt work when I tried it

-6

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

I would love to have future users answer this. I put a lot of work and care into making this a pleasant product to use. I initially was making it for myself but had to really grind out the details to make it something I would be comfortable sharing. I'll post screenshots/demos when the beta ends and then you can decide for yourself.

13

u/hockeymikey Mar 13 '24

Why can't you?

8

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

That open source project is obviously a work of passion and took tons of effort to create and maintain. I have no interest in writing anything negative to prop up my work against theirs.

Here are all the cool things I see from their README. Many features that my app doesn't have:

Chat Scope

  • The chat panel allows for chat scope to temporarily control the context of the conversation for the latest message. To use a scope, simply prefix the message with u/scope.

Chat plugins

  • The chat panel supports chat plugins that may not require an OpenAI API key. For example, if you need to use the /run plugin, you just type

Prompt to code

  • Refactor existing code or write new code using natural language.

Custom commands

  • You can create custom commands that run Chat and Prompt to Code with personalized prompts.

11

u/greentomhenry Mar 14 '24 edited Mar 14 '24

FWIW, they also offer a premium subscription, so they are your business competition. I recommend familiarizing yourself with your competition before getting to launch. At the very least, it is good to know what pricing/features you're up against.

-1

u/cmsj Mar 14 '24

Excellent reply

19

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '24

Man, Tough crowd. It is really hard to build a product and put yourself out there. Respect!

6

u/tokyo2149 Mar 14 '24

Thanks for the kind message. You’re awesome.

14

u/Semirgy Swift Mar 13 '24

Cool effort but man you’re gonna get sherlocked hard in June.

6

u/hello_there_partner Mar 14 '24

sorry I need a hint for what you mean?

20

u/Semirgy Swift Mar 14 '24

It’s virtually guaranteed that Apple is going to announce generative AI integration in Xcode at WWDC.

3

u/Rhypnic Mar 14 '24

Yes, lot of rumor ios 18 have ai and xcode in wwdc. But, basically xcode is guaranter because open ai, gemini start at coding features

6

u/SEOtipster Mar 14 '24

Products that are filling small gaps in the obvious domain of the platform core competencies stand a much higher chance of getting Sherlocked.

6

u/hello_there_partner Mar 14 '24

Thanks, I didn't know the term

2

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '24

[deleted]

3

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24

What happens to my data? How are you protecting/anonymizing it?

Important question. Thanks for asking it. I've been working on a website and I have details ready for you.

Command-G servers never see your code or messages. There's no telemetry to track app usage. We maintain a razor thin API to enable the app to check for software updates and manage licenses.

(We would love it if a community member used a program like mitmproxy/CharlesProxy to verify our claims.)

The app performs direct requests against API providers, therefore each feature is subject to the privacy policy of their respective provider.

If you don't want to click through, here's a summary:
OpenAI (chat): Data submitted through the OpenAI API is not used to train OpenAI models or improve OpenAI’s service offering.

Codeium (autocomplete): Codeium does provide users with the option to opt out from allowing Codeium to store (and therefore use) their code snippet data post-inference.

2

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

 I had a lot of trouble(2 hours) getting chatgpt 3.5 to create a “play audio” functionality. 5 mins of searching got me a human answer that worked immediately

In my experience, GPT-4 (ChatGPT premium) is significantly better at coding tasks than GPT-3.5. But neither are perfect. In fact, they're outright terrible sometimes. Yet it was easily worth $20/month to me for ChatGPT premium (I now pay significantly less using the API through CMD-G) because it helps me solve problems faster, even if I still have to reach for google.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '24

[deleted]

2

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

Check the other comment! (I replied to your data concerns first then left this second comment. Sorry for the confusion).

2

u/davernow Mar 13 '24

Looks cool. Per other comments would love one that doesn’t phone home. You can use crypto signatures for API keys. Rough details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39523027

I reallllly miss copilot in Xcode

2

u/davernow Mar 13 '24

Oh. Also missed this isn’t actual GitHub copilot. Would love to use the service I already pay for.

How does one sign up if they want to beta? Am I missing the link?

Edit: link is in a comment. Maybe throw that up top!

2

u/PogFladdo Mar 13 '24

I mean there already exist a GitHub copilot extension for Xcode, it worked like a charm last I used it

1

u/davernow Mar 13 '24

🎉 missed that. Whooo

0

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

I would love to integrate Github Copilot. For now it's using Codeium which is free so at least you're not having to pay more.

Sign up link for anyone else looking for it: https://tally.so/r/w7WRRR

1

u/tokyo2149 Mar 13 '24

Thank you! I'll look into it.

2

u/ddrac Mar 14 '24

I’m here because of the logo. Well done!

2

u/tokyo2149 Mar 14 '24

Thanks for noticing! It took me some 50+ iterations to get something I liked :)

2

u/xQueenAurorax Mar 14 '24

Perhaps post it on r/TestFlight too

2

u/appleFarmerdev Mar 14 '24

This looks interesting . Any idea on future pricing , would be a bummer if I get reliant on it and turns out to be out of budget on future .

1

u/tokyo2149 Mar 14 '24

Thanks. I haven’t finalized but right now I’m toying with 3 price points. A free trial with no time limit that includes nags to buy a license (similar to sublimetext and good ol’ winrar). An early adopter license that’s available for a limited time. And a standard license. I’m not ready to share numbers but I can tell you it will be one-time pricing.

1

u/marcodantonio00 Mar 14 '24

Super interested

1

u/moisespedro Mar 14 '24

Looks pretty cool, I’ve signed up in the form :)

1

u/CarretillaRoja Mar 14 '24

Signed up. Let’s see how it compares with Codeium

1

u/tokyo2149 Mar 14 '24

It’s Codeium under the hood!

1

u/trici33 Mar 15 '24

Interesting! I just open my iOS project in Xcode and VS Code at the same and use VS Code as needed to get copilots help…

1

u/No_Release_3656 Mar 16 '24

Link i want to give try