Here’s a look at the evolving Code Assistant Agent landscape.
Google has today unveiled Gemini Code Assist, a free AI-powered coding assistant designed to democratize access to advanced coding tools for individual developers. This move positions Google in direct competition with existing AI coding assistants, notably Anthropic’s Claude Code and GitHub’s Copilot Agent.
Gemini Code Assist offers up to 180,000 code completions per month, significantly surpassing competitors like GitHub Copilot, which provides approximately 2,000 completions monthly. Powered by Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI model, the assistant supports multiple programming languages and integrates seamlessly with popular development environments such as Visual Studio Code, GitHub, and JetBrains. Developers can use a natural language chat interface to generate and complete code blocks, enhancing productivity and simplifying the coding process. While the free version is robust, certain advanced features — like productivity metrics and integrations with Google Cloud services — remain exclusive to the Standard and Enterprise tiers.
The release mirrors similar announcements from Anthropic, which recently introduced Claude Code, an “agentic” coding assistant designed to actively collaborate with developers. Claude Code operates directly within the terminal, understanding the codebase to assist with tasks such as searching, editing, testing, and debugging. It is part of Anthropic’s broader release of Claude 3.7 Sonnet, a hybrid reasoning AI model that combines quick responses with extended, step-by-step thinking modes. The extended thinking mode, available to Pro users at $20 per month, enhances performance in complex coding scenarios by allowing the model to self-reflect before responding.
GitHub has also enhanced its AI coding assistant with the introduction of Copilot Agent mode. This new feature from the Microsoft-owned code-sharing platform automates coding tasks with unprecedented autonomy, allowing developers to delegate more complex coding responsibilities to the AI. Copilot Agent provides in-editor assistance, context-aware code suggestions, and advanced debugging tools that integrate seamlessly with Visual Studio Code and JetBrains.
Each of these AI assistants is designed to integrate with common development environments, making them easy to adopt:
• Gemini Code Assist: Available within Google’s ecosystem, it integrates with VS Code, JetBrains, and GitHub. Developers can install it via the Google Cloud extension for their preferred IDE and access its features through a chat-based interface or inline code completion.
• Claude Code: Requires installation within a terminal-based environment, where it can be prompted to scan, edit, and improve code. Users interact with it via text commands, leveraging its ability to analyze and rewrite code on demand.
• GitHub Copilot Agent: Built directly into Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs, developers can enable the feature through GitHub Copilot settings. The agent can suggest code completions in real-time and answer queries about coding errors and optimizations.
AI agents are only becoming more capable of performing complex tasks. There are more platforms to develop with than ever, and the possibilities for LLM-enabled experiences are endless. But for those experiences to be truly useful, they generally will require ubiquitous access to the latest data. Dappier enables the permissioned access of data for AI agents, with simple model-agnostic APIs for any LLM application.
To learn more about developing with Dappier, sign-up today or schedule a demo at dappier.com/demo.
