CodeSandbox

What is CodeSandbox?

CodeSandbox is an AI coding assistant built to improve coding efficiency within the CodeSandbox environment. It can explain code in context, generate new code snippets, refactor existing code, spot bugs, and help improve code security. It can also suggest automatic commit messages and support developers as they learn.

The assistant is optional: Pro subscribers can choose to enable it. It is particularly useful for refactoring, since it reads your codebase, understands your intent, and generates optimized code. Its contextual code generation produces code suited to your specific project, saving time compared to copying snippets from elsewhere. It also helps optimize code by suggesting better ways to write it, and supports security through code reviews and flagging potential risks.

CodeSandbox also serves as a learning tool, breaking down complex code and offering educational insights. Through its AI Research Program, the company offers free access to these AI features in exchange for user feedback, which helps refine the product based on what developers actually need. Overall, it helps manage code more effectively by optimizing it, finding bugs, boosting security, and automating repetitive code-related tasks.

Who created CodeSandbox?

The AI assistant (also known as Boxy) was created by CodeSandbox, a company founded in 2017 by Ives van Hoorne and Bas Buursma and based in Amsterdam. Their goal is to make coding simpler and more efficient for developers and their teams. Boxy was launched to boost coding efficiency within the CodeSandbox environment, offering contextual explanations, code generation, refactoring, bug detection, and security enhancements, along with tailored code suggestions, auto commit messages, and educational insights.

Who is CodeSandbox for?

• Developers
• Software engineers
• Coders
• Designers

How to use CodeSandbox?

1. Check availability and opt in: Boxy is available for Personal Pro and Team Pro subscribers of CodeSandbox. It is not on by default — you need to manually opt in to activate its AI capabilities.
2. Learn from explanations: Ask it about a specific piece of code, and it will explain snippets or entire files in detail.
3. Refactor code: Select an element directly in the app preview and ask Boxy to refactor the associated code. It uses your whole project’s context to generate better, optimized code.
4. Generate code contextually: Boxy creates code tailored to your project’s context within CodeSandbox, so you don’t need to manually copy and paste code from elsewhere.
5. Optimize and secure your code: Boxy suggests better ways to write your code, helps with code reviews, and flags potential security risks.