Use Gemini Code Assist code customization

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Natural language chat

Enter a natural language prompt in Gemini Code Assist chat in the IDE.

Consider the following:

• Chat history is not available. Avoid multi-step queries.
• You can ask for more details about sources, including links to the specific sources.
• If you highlight or select code when you send a message in chat, Gemini Code Assist uses that code to improve code customization and chat quality.

For more information, see Chat with Gemini Code Assist .

Consider the following:

• Code completion needs a certain level of confidence to propose a suggestion. Ensure that a substantial amount of code is available so that relevant snippets are retrieved.
• Code completion checks if you have required libraries in order to use certain elements of the function.

For more information, see Get code completions.

Try the following to generate code in your IDE or Gemini Code Assist chat:

• Generate code that would use terms which are already mentioned in your codebase.
• Paste in your code, such as a functional signature or code with TODO comments, and then ask Gemini Code Assist to fill in or replace TODO comments with code. Add comments with explanation from context.

Try generating code with the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Write a main function where a connection to DATABASE is created. Include health checks."
• "Write a FUNCTION_OR_CLASS in the following structure: EXPLAIN_STRUCTURE."

After you generate some code, try using a follow-up prompt to improve it:

• "Try the /fix command to adjust the generated code—for example, syntax errors."
• "Add missing imports."
• "Try /fix on chat-generated code."

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Can you merge IMPORTS_VARIABLES_OR_NOTE_EXPORTED_FUNCTIONS in this file?"
• "How would you simplify the FUNCTION_NAME function?"
• "Can you merge FUNCTION_NAME_1 and FUNCTION_NAME_2 into one function?"
• "Could you inline some variables in FUNCTION_NAME?"
• "Could you simplify variable naming in the function FUNCTION_NAME?"

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Write the function FUNCTION_NAME in fewer lines of code, if possible."
• "Add comments to the function FUNCTION_NAME."
• "Remove unnecessary whitespaces in the function FUNCTION_NAME."
• "Format the function FUNCTION_NAME in a similar way as the rest of the code."

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Split the code in parts and explain each part using our codebase."
• "Are there variables or keywords that could be shorter and more self-explanatory?"
• "Can you give me useful code from the REPOSITORY_NAME_PACKAGE_MODULE context for this code?"
• "What do you think about the function FUNCTION_NAME?"

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "I am getting an error when I try to do X/add Y. Why?"
• "Can you spot an error in the function FUNCTION_NAME?"
• "How would you fix the function FUNCTION_NAME given this error message?"

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Split this code in parts and explain each of them using our codebase."
• "Show how to call function FUNCTION_NAME?"
• "Show how to run the main function in the ENVIRONMENT_NAME environment?"
• "What is the key technical improvement we can do to make this code more performant?"
• "Show me the implementation of FUNCTION_OR_CLASS_NAME to achieve better results and add what that specific element is"—for example, "Show me the implementation of function foo where foo is the name of the function."

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Give me a strategy for how I can migrate FILE_NAME from LANGUAGE_1 to LANGUAGE_2"—for example, from Go to Python.
• "Given the function FUNCTION_NAME in repository REPOSITORY_NAME, find me an equivalent function in language LANGUAGE_NAME that I can use."

Try the following chat-based or code generation transformation workflow using prompts:

1. "Take FILENAME_COMPONENT code already written in LANGUAGE_1 and refactor and migrate it to LANGUAGE_2"—for example, from Go to Python.
2. After you migrate some code, try the following:
   • Select smaller chunks and use /fix to get it into a state that you want.
   • Try the following prompts:
   • "Is there something which can be improved?"
   • "Give me possible pain points."
   • "How would you test this code if that migration is correct?"

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Summarize the code in package or folder X and provide documentation for the top five important methods."
• "Generate documentation for FUNCTION_OR_CLASS_NAME."
• "Shorten the documentation while preserving the key information."

Try the following prompts in Gemini Code Assist chat:

• "Generate unit tests for FILENAME."
• "Add the most relevant test cases for the FUNCTION_NAME function."
• "Remove test cases that you think don't bring much value."