VS Code extension
Overview
What the SiliCode extension does, and how it fits beside the web app.
SiliCode for VS Code puts SiliCode in your editor's sidebar. You describe what you need, and the results land where you already work: generated modules open as files in your workspace, and changes to your own project show up as diffs you review and apply. It is the same product as the web app, on the same account and the same credit.
Balanced modelcompleted3
Wrote counter.sv and a self-checking testbench; all checks pass.
module counter (
input logic clk,
input logic rst_n,
input logic en,
output logic [7:0] count
);
always_ff @(posedge clk)
if (!rst_n) count <= '0;
else if (en) count <= count + 1;
endmodule| What it is | |
|---|---|
| 1 | The SiliCode icon in the Activity Bar. Click it to open or close the panel. |
| 2 | The chat title (click it for your history), a New chat button, and your account. |
| 3 | The conversation: your request, the run's progress, and what came back. |
| 4 | The message box. Type a request and press Enter. |
| 5 | Run options: task, mode, tools, model, reasoning effort, and your usage. |
| 6 | Your editor, where generated files and diffs open. |
What you can do
Everything you can start on the web, you can start from the panel. There are four ways to begin a chat:
| Start with | What you get |
|---|---|
| From scratch | Describe a module. You get the RTL and a self-checking testbench, simulated and checked against synthesis, written straight into your workspace. |
| Existing project | Point it at the folder you have open. It reads your code, makes the change you asked for, and hands you a diff for every file it touched. |
| Debug | Describe what should happen and what happens instead. You get a diagnosis with evidence, and a proposed fix you can apply or ignore. |
| Optimize | Choose what to improve. You get before and after numbers, a check that the behaviour did not change, and a rewrite to apply if you want it. |
Once a chat has code in it, you can switch the next message between Build, Debug and Optimize without starting over.
How a request flows
01
Pick a task
Build, project, debug or optimize
02
Describe it
In plain language
03
Watch it run
Progress in the panel
04
Review
Files and diffs in the editor
05
Keep it
Apply, with one Undo
You never copy code out of a chat window. A new module is saved to its own folder and opened for you. Anything that touches your existing files waits for you: it opens as a side-by-side diff, and nothing is written until you press Apply. Applying is a single step you can take back with Undo.
The extension and the web app
- One account. You sign in with the same account you use on silicode.ai: your email or username and password, or Google or GitHub if that is how you sign in there.
- One history. Chats you start in the editor appear on the website and the other way round. A run you started on the web can be followed from the panel.
- One balance. Runs from the editor draw on the same plan credit and usage credits. The ring in the corner of the panel shows what is left.
- Same features. Debug and Optimize are available in the extension exactly when they are available to your account on the website.
A few things stay on the website because they are account pages rather than editor work: signing up, billing, buying credit, and support tickets. The panel links to each of them.
What you need
- VS Code 1.74 or newer, on Windows, macOS or Linux.
- A SiliCode account. If you do not have one yet, create it on the website first; you cannot sign up from inside the editor.
- A folder open in VS Code, so generated files have somewhere to go. Without one you can still read the results, but they open as read-only documents.