Autocomplete Hinter should support different p5.js versions #4104

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1. ksen0

   added

   EnhancementImprovement to an existing featureImprovement to an existing feature

   Awaiting Maintainer ApprovalNeeds review from a maintainer before moving forwardNeeds review from a maintainer before moving forward

   Needs DiscussionRequires further conversation or consensusRequires further conversation or consensus

   p5v2 switch: requiredThis must be complete before p5v2 can be made defaultThis must be complete before p5v2 can be made default

   p5v2 switch: recommendedThis would be very valuable to complete before p5v2 becomes default, but is not a strict requirementThis would be very valuable to complete before p5v2 becomes default, but is not a strict requirement

   and removed

   Awaiting Maintainer ApprovalNeeds review from a maintainer before moving forwardNeeds review from a maintainer before moving forward

   p5v2 switch: requiredThis must be complete before p5v2 can be made defaultThis must be complete before p5v2 can be made default

   on Apr 30, 2026
2. ksen0

   marked this as blocking on Apr 30, 2026

   • Enable Autocomplete Hinter by default in preferences #4099
3. VikasKSingh05 commented on May 8, 2026

   

   VikasKSingh05

   on May 8, 2026

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   Hello @ksen0 . I looked into this issue and would like to work on improving the autocomplete hinter’s support for multiple p5.js versions, particularly syncing suggestions with the selected v1/v2 API dataset.

   Please assign this issue to me if available.
4. ksen0 commented on May 8, 2026

   

   ksen0

   on May 8, 2026

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   Thanks for the interest @VikasKSingh05 ! This one's a bit tricky, the implementation is not obvious / there are different possible solutions. Could you explain how you would tackle this, where you'd start in the codebase and what approach you'd take, before we consider assignment? Thanks!
5. VikasKSingh05 commented on May 9, 2026

   

   VikasKSingh05

   on May 9, 2026

   Last edited by VikasKSingh05

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   Sure @ksen0 . I investigated the autocomplete generation pipeline locally and found that the issue comes from the generated hinter datasets being based on the v1 reference data.

   The update-p5-hinter.js script currently fetches from: https://p5js.org/reference/data.json

   After switching it to the v2 beta reference JSON and regenerating the hinter files via npm run update-p5-hinter, the missing v2 APIs (such as buildMaterialShader) started appearing correctly in the editor autocomplete suggestions.

   So the autocomplete itself already supports these APIs, its just that the generated datasets are outdated and still built against the v1 reference source.

   Before proceeding further, should the intended fix here be:

   1. updating the generation scripts/generated datasets to use the v2 reference data, or
   2. implementing proper multi-version-aware hinter generation/support?

   
6. skyyash commented on Jun 2, 2026

   

   skyyash

   on Jun 2, 2026

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   hi @ksen0!
   interested in taking this on.

   my proposed approach:

   tldr:

   1. update update-p5-hinter.js to generate both p5-hinter-v1.js and p5-hinter-v2.js.
   2. pass version information to p5Javascript.js through stateUtils.js (either similarly to referenceBaseUrl, or infer it from referenceBaseUrl if that ends up being the better source of truth).
   3. select and pass the appropriate hints dataset (p5-hinter-v1 or p5-hinter-v2) to contextAwareHinter based on the active version.

   ---

   regardless of the implementation details, generating separate hinter files for both versions seems necessary since the APIs differ:

   • p5-hinter-v1 → https://p5js.org/reference/data.json
   • p5-hinter-v2 → https://beta.p5js.org/reference/data.json

   both files would be generated from update-p5-hinter.js. we could also structure the script around an array of reference API URLs, making it easier to support additional p5.js versions in the future.

   for version propagation, i'd start by tracing the existing version-switching flow. we can pass versionInfo from client/modules/IDE/components/Editor/index.jsx to createNewFileState in client/modules/IDE/components/Editor/stateUtils.js through settings (similar to referenceBaseUrl). from there, it can be passed into p5Javascript via fileLanguage(versionInfo).

   then in p5Javascript.js, we can select the appropriate hinter dataset and pass it to contextAwareHinter.

   i also considered an alternative approach of merging all hints into a single dataset and filtering suggestions based on the active version. i ended up ruling that out because it would require propagating version information deeper into the completion pipeline, adding version metadata to hints, and performing filtering during completion generation. keeping separate generated datasets and selecting the correct one upfront seems simpler and easier to maintain.

   ❤️React with ❤️1Reacted by kit
7. ksen0 commented on Jun 2, 2026

   

   ksen0

   on Jun 2, 2026

   Last edited by ksen0

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   Thanks for the quite complete/thorough proposal @skyash-dev , I'll assign! I'm keeping this as "Discussion" though in case there are roadblocks or other implementation challenges to be considered during review. Thanks!
8. ksen0

   assigned

   ksen0

   and

   skyyash

   and unassigned

   ksen0

   on Jun 2, 2026
9. ksen0 commented on Jun 16, 2026

   

   ksen0

   on Jun 16, 2026

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   Related PR has been merged, closing but please reopen as needed
10. ksen0

    closed this as completedon Jun 16, 2026