Tool-Augmented LLMs as a Universal Interface for IDEs

Abstract: Modern-day Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) have come a long way from the early text editing utilities to the complex programs encompassing thousands of functions to help developers. However, with the increasing number of efficiency-enhancing tools incorporated, IDEs gradually became sophisticated software with a steep learning curve. The rise of the LLMs capable of both natural language dialogue and code generation leads to a discourse on the obsolescence of the concept of IDE. In this work, we offer a view on the place of the LLMs in the IDEs as the universal interface wrapping the IDE facilities. We envision a model that is able to perform complex actions involving multiple IDE features upon user command, stripping the user experience of the tedious work involved in searching through options and actions. For the practical part of the work, we engage with the works exploring the ability of LLMs to call for external tools to expedite a given task execution. We showcase a proof-of-concept of such a tool.