Introducing Refact: Open-source alternative to Github Copilot
Tags: code, vscode, jetbrains, ai
Published: 2023-04-19 19:16:19

We've just launched Refact.ai, the AI coding assistant that combines code autocompletion, refactoring, and chat inside your favorite IDE.

You can download our plugin for [JetBrains](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/20647-codify) or [VS Code](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=smallcloud.codify). It's currently free for everyone while we're in the technical preview, we plan to introduce more pricing tiers soon. 
## Why Refact?
We believe next-gen developer assistant tool can benefit greatly from the use of different AI models working in harmony, that's why we decided to power Refact with a combination of models.

Our proprietary fast and smart AI completion model is state-of-the-art in size and latency. For each language group, we have fine-tuned a specific model to provide speed and accuracy. They are hosted in our data center, ensuring performance and precision for quick boilerplate and basic code refactoring. Plus, by hosting them ourselves, we can ensure the highest level of security and reliability for our users.

On top of that, we use the powerful GPT-3.5-Turbo and GPT-4 models which make it possible to chat with it using natural language and apply code improvement and explaining functions like “Find/Fix Bugs”, and "Explain Complex Code".

![Refact.ai scheme](https://refact.ai/images/scheme.svg)

Refact allows you to restrict access to particular files or projects, ensuring that your private code or confidential files are protected. And we don't collect datasets on the server side.
If you have NVIDIA GPU you can self-host our model using our [Docker](https://refact.ai/docker/) or contact us for an on-prem enterprise version.

Refact offers a wholesome developer experience by making multiple functions available inside one IDE. 

## Autocomplete

At the core of Refact is our autocomplete feature that works with 20+ programming languages, including Python, Javascript, Java, Go, Rust, C++, Ruby, and more. When you type some code, the model automatically generates the suggestion by looking for context up and down.

## AI Toolbox

To improve your existing code quickly and easily, Refact AI Toolbox allows you to simply highlight the area you want to improve and use one of the functions to find and fix bugs, make code more readable, add console logs, or explain complex code.

## Integrated AI Chat

Finally, you can use natural language prompts in the AI Chat to refine, explain, and generate new code, as well as provide hints on API usage and documentation links. Your code is part of the context of the conversation automatically and it also gets pasted back directly into the IDE.

## Get Started


To get started, simply download Refact.ai on [JetBrains](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/20647-codify) or [VS Code](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=smallcloud.codify) for free. We're currently in a technical preview, but we're working hard to introduce different pricing tiers and would love to hear your feedback.

__Join our [Discord community](https://www.smallcloud.ai/discord) to help shape the future of independent AI coding assistants.__