CodiStar IDE

AI-Accelerated, Lightweight Web IDE

Overview

CodiStar IDE is a browser-based development environment powered by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

• Instant, contextual code assistance across your entire codebase
• Zero local setup—code directly in your browser
• Real-time collaboration with built-in file-tree rendering

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Prerequisites

• Node.js v14 or higher
• A Pinecone account & API key
• A Groq account & API key
• A PostgreSQL instance (local or Docker)

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Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/your-org/codistar.git
   cd codistar

2. Install dependencies for client

   cd client
   npm install

3. Install dependencies for server

   cd ../server
   npm install

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in both client/ and server/ with these entries:

# Pinecone vector DB
PINECONE_API_KEY=your_pinecone_api_key
PINECONE_ENVIRONMENT=your_pinecone_environment
# Groq inference
GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key
# PostgreSQL (server only)
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_postgres_password
POSTGRES_DB=codistar

Running the App

1. Start the backend

   cd server
   nodemon server.js

2. Start the frontend

   cd client
   npm run dev

3. Open in browser Visit: http://localhost:5173

Project Structure

codistar/
├── client/      # React + Vite frontend
│   ├── public/
│   └── src/
└── server/      # Express + LangChain + PostgreSQL
    ├── routes/
    └── services/

Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feature/XYZ
3. Commit changes: git commit -m "Add XYZ feature"
4. Push: git push origin feature/XYZ
5. Open a Pull Request