The Rundown: Mistral’s new Codestral model can be integrated directly in your code editor for free, helping you write, debug, and understand code better.
🧰 Who is this useful for:
Developers looking to speed up their coding workflow
Students learning to code who need guidance
Technical teams wanting AI assistance with code review
Anyone working on complex coding projects
STEP 1: Setting Up Your Environment
First, open Visual Studio Code and navigate to the Extensions marketplace. Search for "Continue" in the search bar. Look for the extension with the hexagonal icon and a high number of downloads (500K+). Click "Install" to add it to your editor.
STEP 2: Adding Your AI Assistant
Once installed, you'll see a "Continue" button in the bottom-right corner of your editor. Click it to access the command palette. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command+L (Mac) or Ctrl+L (Windows) to open the chat interface.
In the chat sidebar, click "Add Chat Model" and select the following options:
Provider: Mistral
Model: Codestral
Note: You'll need a free API key to proceed.
STEP 3: Getting Your Free API Key
Head over to Mistral AI and create an account. Once logged in, look for the “Codestrl” option to try Codestral for free. This will generate your API key. Copy this key and paste it back in VS Code where prompted in the chat model settings.
STEP 4: Using Your AI Assistant
With everything set up, you can now:
Type questions directly in the chat
Add file context using the '@' symbol
Highlight code and press Command+L to add it to your chat
Ask for explanations, improvements, or debugging help
Pro tip: When asking about specific code, highlight the relevant section and hit CMD + L. This gives the AI assistant more context to provide accurate help.
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