AWS launches in-line Q Developer AI coding assistant to take on Microsoft’s Github Copilot

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is making its Amazon Q Developer AI assistant available as an add-on developers can access directly at any point of their coding, within their Integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Visual Studio Code and JetBrains, the company announced today in a blog post authored by Jose Yapur, Senior Developer Advocate at AWS.

Simply highlighting text will bring up a list of new Q Developer actions as options, including “Optimize this code”, “Add comments”, or “Write tests”.

Selecting any of these, the human developer can enter specific instructions or prompts into a text box and then sit back and relax for a few seconds while Q Developer performs the requested action on its own. See it in action below in an animation posted by AWS today.

Powered by Amazon investment Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet model, the feature aims to streamline workflows, eliminating the need for developers to switch between chat and code windows.

Q Developer is available for free to start but with monthly limits on certain actions such as code chatting, debugging, and testing (50 per month), versus the Pro tier at $19 per month with fewer limitations.

A developer’s virtual best friend?

Originally launched as Amazon CodeWhisperer in 2022, Amazon Q Developer began as a tool for inline code suggestions based on comments and existing code.

Over time, its functionality expanded to include an in-IDE chat that allowed developers to generate new code and receive explanations for specific coding tasks.

Amazon Q Developer’s inline chat takes this concept further by integrating suggested changes directly into the code editor, allowing developers to review and accept modifications instantly.

This approach is intended to reduce the interruptions caused by switching between chat windows and code, helping developers stay focused on their tasks.

The Claude 3.5 Sonnet model, powering the inline chat feature, offers robust improvements in coding tasks and has achieved a 49% success rate on the SWE-bench benchmark, solving real-world GitHub issues.

Integrated with Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q Developer leverages multiple foundation models, dynamically selecting the optimal model for each task to enhance productivity for its users.

The feature, available in the Amazon Q Developer’s free tier, exemplifies Amazon’s commitment to continuous improvement in developer tools through seamless, behind-the-scenes model updates.

Inline chat actions

Amazon Q Developer’s inline chat feature demonstrates its potential through practical applications like code refactoring and documentation.

For instance, a developer can select multiple code methods in their editor, describe the refactoring they need, and the AI will consolidate the methods into a single function with optional parameters. This process is visible in a diff format within the code, allowing users to quickly see which lines will be added or removed.

By pressing a key to accept the changes, developers can integrate the modifications immediately, optimizing their workflows.

The tool is also useful for documenting legacy code. With a simple prompt, developers can ask Amazon Q Developer to generate descriptive comments throughout a function or algorithm. Inline chat then provides the documentation suggestions directly within the code editor, helping teams maintain consistency in code documentation across large projects.

Competing Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot

Amazon Q Developer’s latest feature arrives at a critical time as Microsoft earlier today also expanded its rival GitHub Copilot AI assistant capabilities.

Announced at the GitHub Universe conference, the newest Copilot enhancements introduce multi-model support, enabling developers to choose between models such as Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro, and OpenAI’s GPT4o.

Previously, Copilot was restricted to Microsoft and its investment OpenAI’s GPT series of large language models (LLMs) and open source models.

The newly added support for multiple LLMs allows GitHub Copilot’s developer users additional flexibility. Copilot’s integration now also extends to Apple’s Xcode IDE, providing a broader reach and compatibility with more development environments. Github Copilot is priced at a free tier, $4 per user per month for a Team tier, and $21 for Enterprise tier, each with gradually fewer limitations and more features.

In addition, Github Copilot is also launching an integrating directly within Azure, Microsoft’s cloud service and rival to Amazon Web Services (AWS), allowing developers to use it when managing their cloud apps, deployments, and builds directly within that environment.

AWS and Azure are locked in a heated competition for enterprise customers, especially in the generative AI era.

GitHub Copilot Workspace, a new orchestration engine for AI-driven development, allows for seamless transitions from idea to execution, making it easier to address complex coding tasks in an AI-native environment.

This shift reflects Microsoft’s broader ambitions in the developer tools landscape, aiming to establish GitHub and Azure as the go-to platforms for AI-first software development. It’s also notable given that Microsoft has invested directly into Anthropic rival OpenAI, while its cloud rival Amazon has invested directly into Anthropic.

Yet Microsoft and Amazon both clearly want to give their cloud customers broad optionality for the LLMs available through either platform, making it more reasonable and even desirable to partner with the competition (or competition’s proxies).

A fiercely competition landscape for developer dollars

Both Amazon and Microsoft are actively working to redefine developer productivity through their AI tools. Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot has expanded beyond the confines of single-model support, now enabling developers to choose between multiple AI models for different coding tasks.

By integrating Stack Overflow insights and expanding Copilot’s reach to Xcode, GitHub is positioning itself as a universal assistant for diverse development environments.

Meanwhile, Amazon Q Developer focuses on refining its in-editor experience, reducing friction for developers who need quick, integrated responses to code-related queries.

With Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Amazon aims to enhance Q Developer’s performance on complex, real-world coding problems.

The broader implications of these advancements are significant. As these platforms continue to integrate more sophisticated AI models, developers are experiencing a shift from traditional software engineering workflows to AI-assisted development that promises to reduce repetitive tasks and accelerate innovation.

For Amazon and Microsoft, this competition is not only about developer experience but also about gaining traction in the cloud ecosystem. As developers adopt these tools, they may become more committed to the corresponding cloud providers, further cementing Amazon and Microsoft’s positions in the enterprise AI market.

Looking forward

Amazon Q Developer’s inline chat provides developers with an efficient, AI-powered alternative for code refactoring, debugging, and documentation.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot updates underscore a vision for a flexible, model-agnostic AI assistant that spans a variety of development tools and environments.

For developers, the takeaway is clear: both Amazon and Microsoft are committed to reshaping how code is written, reviewed, and deployed.

With Amazon Q Developer’s inline chat available immediately for users of Visual Studio Code and JetBrains, and Microsoft’s new Copilot features rolling out this week, developers have a wealth of options to explore as they look to integrate AI more deeply into their coding practices.