ELI5 – Explain Code Like I’m 5

A VS Code extension that takes your selected code and returns a plain-English explanation in a side panel, using Ollama local AI models (no API keys, no cloud required).

---

✨ Features

• 🤖 Local AI only: Uses Ollama with local models (no data leaves your machine)
• 🎯 Smart Selection: Explain selected code or entire files
• 📋 Copy to Clipboard: One-click copying of explanations
• 🎨 Side Panel UI: Clean, modern panel that matches VS Code’s theme

---

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install Ollama

Download and install Ollama from 👉 ollama.com/download.

2. Pull a Model

ollama pull mistral

3. Install the Extension

• Open VS Code
• Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
• Search for ELI5
• Install the extension

4. Use ELI5

• Select code in your editor → Right-click → Explain Selection (ELI5)
• Or run from Command Palette: ELI5: Explain Selection

---

🎛️ Commands

• ELI5: Explain Selection – Explain selected code
• ELI5: Explain File – Explain the entire active file
• ELI5: Copy Last Explanation – Copy the last explanation to clipboard

---

⚙️ Settings

ELI5 is fully local, but you can adjust settings in VS Code:

{
  "eli5.model": "mistral",
  "eli5.systemPrompt": "Explain the selected code in plain English for a beginner...",
  "eli5.maxTokens": 500,
  "eli5.timeoutMs": 20000,
  "eli5.maxLines": 800,
  "eli5.debug": false
}

Key Settings

• eli5.model → Ollama model to use (e.g. "mistral", "codellama")
• eli5.systemPrompt → Custom system prompt for explanations
• eli5.maxTokens → Maximum response size
• eli5.timeoutMs → Timeout in ms (default 20s)
• eli5.maxLines → Max lines of code to explain
• eli5.debug → Enable debug logging

---

🛠️ Troubleshooting

"Model endpoint not found"

• Make sure Ollama is running (ollama serve)
• Check your pulled models with ollama list

"No response received"

• Ensure you pulled the model:

  ollama pull mistral

• Double-check your settings in VS Code

Slow responses

• Use a smaller model (e.g. mistral:7b)
• Increase timeout in settings
• Check system resources

---

🔒 Security

• All code stays on your machine
• No API keys, no cloud services, no telemetry

---

👩‍💻 Development

Clone and build from source:

git clone https://github.com/amish-gaur/eli5-vscodeextension.git
cd eli5-vscodeextension
npm install
npm run compile

Run in VS Code dev host:

• Press F5 in VS Code to launch
• Test with any file and selection

---

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome!

• Fork the repo
• Create a feature branch
• Submit a PR 🚀

---

📜 License

MIT License – see LICENSE for details

---

Made with ❤️ to help developers learn and debug code faster.