RustRover 2024.3 Help

Use AI prompts to explain and refactor your code

Use pre-written prompts to explain code, refactor, and find problems in your code. RustRover provides project-specific context, such as the languages and technologies used in your project.

You can also define your own custom prompts and add them to the AI Actions menu, or modify the built-in prompts.

Explain code

  1. Select a code fragment and right-click it to open the context menu.

    Alternatively, select a code fragment and press Alt+Enter.

  2. Select AI Actions and then Explain Code.

    AI Assistant actions - Explain Code

    The AI Assistant tool window will open to provide you with an explanation.

    RustRover AI Assistant explains code

Suggest refactoring

  1. Select a code fragment and right-click it to open the context menu.

    Alternatively, select a code fragment and press Alt+Enter.

  2. Select AI Actions and then Suggest Refactoring.

    AI Actions menu - suggest refactoring

    The AI chat will open to offer you refactoring suggestions.

    RustRover: AI Assistant suggests refactoring
  3. In the field with the refactored code, click Show Diff to open the diff viewer. To skip the diff viewing step, expand the list next to Show Diff and select Apply Immediately.

    In the diff viewer, use Unified or Two-Side view to review the suggested changes.

    Applying the refactoring suggestion without preview
  4. If you like the result, click Accept in the gutter to move the selected AI-generated code snippets to the source file, or click Accept all to fully replace the originally selected code fragment. Otherwise, close the diff viewer to skip the suggested refactoring.

Find problems

  1. Select a code fragment and right-click it to open the context menu.

    Alternatively, select a code fragment and press Alt+Enter.

  2. Select AI Actions and then Find Problems.

    AI Actions menu - finds potential problems

    The AI chat will open to show the potential issues you may want to look into.

    RustRover: AI Assistant finds potential problems in the selected code

Explain compilation errors

AI Assistant can also help you analyze build error messages.

  • In the console, locate the error message and click Explain with AI.

    RustRover: Explain compilation error with AI

The AI Assistant tool window will open to provide you with an explanation.

AI Assistant tool window with an explanation of the compilation error

Add your own prompts to prompts library

You can add your own prompts to the prompts library and use them via the AI Actions menu.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Right-click anywhere in the editor to open the context menu, then go to AI Actions | Add Your Prompts.

      Add your prompt context menu
    • Press Alt+Enter, select AI Actions, and click Add your prompts.

    • Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open settings and then select Tools | AI Assistant | Prompt Library.

  2. Click to create a new prompt.

    RustRover: User prompts library settings
  3. In the text field, write the prompt.

    If needed, click the $SELECTION variable to add a Markdown-formatted code block with current code selection and language name to the new prompt.

  4. Edit the new prompt name.

    Select the first checkbox if you want AI Assistant to wait for you to make additional input in the chat after invoking the prompt.

    Keep the second checkbox if you want your new prompt to be listed in the AI Actions menu.

    RustRover: Custom prompt parameters
  5. Click Apply.

Once you create a prompt, you can edit or delete it at any time.

You can also select a prompt from the list and move it up or down to change the order in which the prompts are displayed.

Modify built-in prompts

You can adjust how AI Assistant behaves in certain scenarios by modifying the prompts used for the corresponding actions. For example, you can add specific guidelines for generating documentation.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Right-click anywhere in the editor to open the context menu, then go to AI Actions | Add Your Prompts.

      Add your prompt context menu
    • Press Alt+Enter, select AI Actions, and click Add your prompts.

    • Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open settings and then select Tools | AI Assistant | Prompt Library.

  2. Select the action for which you want to modify the prompt.

  3. Add new instructions.

  4. Click Apply.

The provided instructions will be appended to the default prompt, extending the functionality of the corresponding action.

Last modified: 12 December 2024