Enter The Void: An Open Source AI Coding IDE

Image by Editor (Kanwal Mehreen) | Canva

We live in an era where AI tools have helped our work, from generating study plans to conversing with chatbots and many more. One of the most helpful implementations of AI in the programming field is the code assistant, which helps programmers with coding activities.

Many code assistant products have been developed to help our work. With time, many have created more than just an assistant—an actual programming IDE powered by AI.

This article will discuss the initiative for open-source IDE AI Coding called Void. We will explore the initiative and what makes them unique.

Let’s get into it.

Void Code Editor

 
Void is an open-source AI-powered code editor branded as an alternative to Cursor. If you didn’t know about Cursor, it’s a code editor where we can use AI to help our coding, but it’s closed-source. Void, on the other hand, tries not to act as a middleman to any LLM it was used in and, at the same time, provides local tools to host the model. However, Void is a fork of the VSCode repository, making it easier to use if you are already familiar with VSCode.

The Void code editor is an ongoing project to which the community can contribute and build on its features. The Void code editor has yet to be released at the time of this article, but you can register for the waitlist. If you want to try them out, you can build the IDE by pulling them from the GitHub repository.

In addition, there is an active Discord community where you can interact with the community and gain insight about Void.

Void Features

 
Let’s discuss what Void could offer. As Void aims to become the Cursor alternative, many Cursor features are included in the Void code editor. They include:

• Pressing the Tab to autocomplete the code generation
• Pressing Ctrl + K to edit with AI for the inline code
• Pressing Ctrl + L to ask questions via chat and include file attachments.

However, Void features are much more than the ones I have listed above. Void boasted that everyone could advance their roadmap and build the IDE independently.

The community features that are currently listed are:

• File indexing, where AI can reference your existing files and provide suggestions based on the question.
• Intelligent search with AI to find and edit code from all the existing code bases.
• Fine-tune the code generation output.
• View and edit underlying prompts used in the Void.

Other than the features above, there are a few experimental features you should know:

• Fast code applying feature even to files with more extended codes.
• Contextual awareness.
• Third-party integration with many useful tools such as Ollama, DocSearch, and more. If you are building something and want to integrate with Void, you can fill out the form for integration.

That is all about the Void features. Of course, the real power of Void is how you can develop your features by building the Void IDE.

Building the Void IDE

 
We can build the Void IDE from the GitHub repository and run it from your local.

As a prerequisite, you must install Node.js. If you use Windows, you need to download Visual Studio 2022 and remember to install the Visual Studio Code.

Next, clone the Void GitHub repository with the following code.

git clone https://github.com/voideditor/void

Open a new workspace in Visual Studio Code and go to the /extensions/void location to install the dependencies. Then, execute the following code to the new workspace.

With the dependencies installed, we would build the extensions using the code below.

Try running the extensions by pressing the F5 button. If it doesn’t work, press Ctrl+Shift+P, select “Debug: Start Debugging,” and “VSCode Extension Development.”

With the extension installed, we would build the whole IDE. For a starter, you need to open the installer for Visual Studio 2022 and select the following options.

Go to the “Workloads” tab and select:

• Desktop development with C++.
• Node.js build tools.

Also, go to the Go to the “Individual Components” tab and select:

• MSVC v143 – VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 Spectre-mitigated libs (Latest).
• C++ ATL for latest build tools with Spectre Mitigations.
• C++ MFC for latest build tools with Spectre Mitigations.

Then, you just need to click install.

With all the requirements installed, we will build the IDE. You must move into the void/ location and install all the dependencies.

Finally, run the code below to see if the building is already done.

Once finished, open a new terminal. If you are using a Mac, you need to run ./scripts/code.sh. If you are using Windows, you would need to run ./scripts/code.bat.

That’s it. You have finished building the Void IDE and can explore its available features. If you encounter any problems, you can visit their Issue page to consult with the Void developer.
 

Conclusion

 
With the advancement of AI technology, many have developed tools to make programmer life easier. One such tool is Void, an open-source alternative to the Cursor IDE.

In this article, we have discussed various features that Void have and how you can build the IDE for yourself.

I hope this has helped!
 
 

Cornellius Yudha Wijaya is a data science assistant manager and data writer. While working full-time at Allianz Indonesia, he loves to share Python and data tips via social media and writing media. Cornellius writes on a variety of AI and machine learning topics.