Google unveils free AI coding assistant for developers

Google has launched Gemini Code Assist, a free AI-powered coding assistant designed to help developers write, modify, and debug code more efficiently.

In a statement on Wednesday, the tech giant said the tool, driven by Gemini 2.0, supports all publicly available programming languages.

The new offering provides 180,000 code completions per month and 240 daily chat requests.

Google said Gemini Code Assist integrates directly into popular integrated development environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio Code and JetBrains, allowing developers to code without switching between multiple applications.

“Developers spend most of their time coding in integrated development environments (IDEs),” Google said.

“Now, the free version of Gemini Code Assist in Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs offers developers the same code completion, generation, and chat capabilities that have been available to businesses for over a year.”

The company also announced the launch of a public preview of Gemini Code Assist for GitHub, introducing AI-assisted code reviews.

The firm said the feature detects coding errors, suggests improvements, and enforces coding standards.

“Developers can also customise style guides for AI-generated reviews,” Google said.

According to Google’s 2024 DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) survey, 75 percent of developers use AI in their daily workflows.

The company stated that over 25 percent of its new code is AI-generated before human validation.

The tech giant said developers can access Gemini Code Assist for free using a personal Gmail account, with no credit card required, noting that the tool is available for installation in Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs, and GitHub.

As part of its public preview, Google said it is actively seeking developer feedback to refine the tool, adding that users can submit suggestions directly through their IDE or GitHub interface.