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Improve developer productivity with generative-AI powered Amazon Q in Amazon CodeCatalyst (preview)

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Today, I’m excited to introduce the preview of new generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities within Amazon CodeCatalyst that accelerate software delivery using Amazon Q.

Accelerate feature development – The feature development capability in Amazon Q can help you accelerate the implementation of software development tasks such as adding comments and READMEs, refining issue descriptions, generating small classes and unit tests, and updating CodeCatalyst workflows — tedious and undifferentiated tasks that take up developers’ time.

Developers can go from an idea in an issue to fully tested, merge-ready, running code with only natural language inputs, in just a few clicks. AI does the heavy lifting of converting the human prompt to an actionable plan, summarizing source code repositories, generating code, unit tests, and workflows, and summarizing any changes in a pull request which is assigned back to the developer.

You can also provide feedback to Amazon Q directly on the published pull request and ask it to generate a new revision. If the code change falls short of expectations, you can create a development environment directly from the pull request, make any necessary adjustments manually, publish a new revision, and proceed with the merge upon approval.

Example: make an API change in an existing application
In the navigation pane, I choose Issues and then I choose Create issue. I give the issue the title, Change the get_all_mysfits() API to return mysfits sorted by the Age attribute. I then assign this issue to Amazon Q and choose Create issue.

Create-issue

Amazon Q will automatically move the issue into the In progress state while it analyzes the issue title and description to formulate a potential solution approach. If there is already some discussion on the issue, it should be summarized in the description to help Q understand what needs to be done. As it works, Amazon Q will report on its progress by leaving comments on the issue at every stage. It will attempt to create a solution based on its understanding of the code already present in the repository and the approach it formulated.

If Amazon Q is able to successfully generate a potential solution, it will create a branch and commit code to that branch. It will then create a pull request that will merge the changes into the default branch once approved. Once the pull request is published, Amazon Q will change the issue status to In Review so that you and your team know that the code is now ready for you to review.

Summarize a change – Pull request authors can save time by asking Amazon Q to summarize the change they are publishing for review. Today pull request authors have to write the description manually or they may choose not to write it at all. If the author does not provide a description, it makes it harder for reviewers to understand what changes are being made and why, delaying the review process and slowing down software delivery.

Pull request authors and reviewers can also save time by asking Amazon Q to summarize the comments left on the pull request. The summary is useful for the author because they can easily see common feedback themes. For the reviewers it is useful because they can quickly catch up on the conversation and feedback from themselves and other team members. The overall benefits are streamlined collaboration, accelerated review process, and faster software delivery.

Join the preview
Amazon Q features in CodeCatalyst are off by default, and can be enabled by the user in space settings. Amazon Q is available in Amazon CodeCatalyst today for spaces in AWS Region US West (Oregon).

Learn more

Read more about Amazon Q

— Irshad

Irshad Buchh

Irshad Buchh

Irshad A Buchh is a Principal Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS), specializing in driving the widespread adoption of Amazon's cloud computing platform. He collaborates closely with AWS Global Strategic ISV and SI partners to craft and execute effective cloud strategies, enabling them to fully leverage the advantages of cloud technology. By working alongside CIOs, CTOs, and architects, Irshad assists in transforming their cloud visions into reality, providing architectural guidance and expertise throughout the implementation of strategic cloud solutions.