Amazon’s AI-powered coding assistant, CodeWhisperer, has rebranded as Q Developer. The tool is now part of Amazon’s Q family of generative AI chatbots and helps developers with tasks such as debugging, troubleshooting, and security scans.
Q Developer can also generate code in multiple languages, test code, and assist with implementing new code. The premium version, Q Developer Pro, offers higher usage limits, user management tools, and IP indemnity.
Q Developer is available for free in the AWS Console, Slack, and IDEs such as Visual Studio Code, GitLab Duo, and JetBrains. However, the free version has limitations, including a maximum of 5 Agents tasks per month and 25 queries about AWS account resources per month.
Q Developer is similar to GitHub’s Copilot, which has over 1.8 million paying individual users and tens of thousands of corporate customers. However, it remains to be seen whether Q Developer can match Copilot’s momentum. Some analysts believe that Q Developer’s branding is more appropriate for a wider range of use cases than CodeWhisperer’s was.
Time will tell whether Q Developer can overcome the challenges facing AI-powered coding assistants, such as the potential for introducing bugs and security issues into codebases. However, Q Developer is a powerful tool that can help developers save time and improve their productivity. It is an important addition to Amazon’s suite of cloud computing services.
