CodeBuddy

💡 Inspiration

Starting a new engineering role is exciting, until you open the company’s GitHub repository for the first time. Instead of building, new engineers often spend days trying to understand folder structures, hidden dependencies, and outdated documentation. We wanted to make onboarding feel less overwhelming and help engineers get productive faster.

🤖 What it does

CodeBuddy is an AI onboarding assistant for GitHub codebases. It analyzes repositories to explain project structure, key files, and architecture in plain English, guiding engineers through unfamiliar codebases with context tied directly to the code.

🛠️ How we built it

We built CodeBuddy using a full-stack approach. The backend ingests GitHub repositories, parses file structures, and extracts relevant code context. An AI layer generates human-readable explanations and onboarding guidance, while the frontend provides an intuitive interface for exploring repositories and asking questions. We focused on keeping explanations accurate, concise, and directly connected to real files.

🚧 Challenges we ran into

One major challenge was providing meaningful explanations without overwhelming users with too much information. Large repositories can be complex, and striking the right balance between depth and clarity required careful prompt design and iteration. We also had to handle varying repository structures and inconsistent documentation.

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that CodeBuddy can turn a complex GitHub repository into something understandable within minutes. Building a working end-to-end onboarding flow, from repository analysis to clear explanations, within a short timeframe was a major win for our team.

📚 What we learned

We learned how critical developer experience is, especially during onboarding. We also gained hands-on experience designing AI systems that assist rather than replace engineers, and learned how to scope features realistically while still delivering real value.

🚀 What's next for CodeBuddy

Next, we want to introduce deeper architecture insights, cross-file dependency understanding, and team-specific onboarding paths. The goal is to be able to tap into the developer's mind and understand the "why" behind every line of code. Long term, CodeBuddy will evolve alongside the codebase, keeping onboarding guidance current as projects grow and change.

Built With

• django
• flask
• github
• jinja
• mistral
• sqlite