AI coding assistant
An IDE-integrated tool that suggests or completes code from an LLM while the developer stays in control of every edit.
An AI coding assistant lives inside the editor and responds to what the developer is typing: inline completions, chat about the open file, or generated tests and docstrings. The developer accepts or rejects every suggestion, so the tool augments rather than replaces the person. GitHub Copilot (2021) is the canonical example. Stack Overflow's 2026 survey found 65.9% of developers use AI coding assistants or agents at work, and 73% of those use them daily. The contrast is with a coding agent, which executes multi-step tasks on its own.