AI coding assistants
AI that writes code with you inside your codebase
AI developer platforms / AI-assisted coding tools. → Unlike the "vibe coding" app builders (Lovable, Base44) that create a whole app from a plain prompt, these are software-engineering utilities that sit inside or alongside your existing codebase: they read files, run terminal commands, and fix bugs, writing code collaboratively with you. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Aider, Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity, GitHub Copilot — some run in your terminal, some are full IDEs, one is an editor extension.
After this chapter you can
→ Pick a coding assistant that fits your editor and workflow
→ Know which run in the terminal vs inside your IDE
→ Let an agent edit and run code in your own repo
0/8 courses done — a course counts as done once you've finished all its lessons
| Feature | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Videos tutorials on YouTube | ▶ 3 | ▶ 2 | ▶ 3 | ▶ 2 | ▶ 3 | ▶ 3 | ▶ 3 | ▶ 3 |
| Detailed course hands-on lessons & templates | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → | Open → |
| Animated walkthrough watch each lesson play out | ▶ | ▶ | ▶ | ▶ | ▶ | ▶ | ▶ | ▶ |
| Where it runs terminal, IDE, or extension | terminal | terminal | terminal | terminal | IDE | IDE | IDE | extension |
| Works in your existing repo edits code you already have | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free / open-source no subscription to start | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ |
| Bring your own model any LLM / your own API key | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ✗ |
| Agentic multi-file edits changes many files in one go | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ |
| Runs commands / tests executes, not just suggests | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ |
| Beginner-friendly gentle first-time setup | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ |
✓ strong · ◐ partial · ✗ no · scores are qualitative