🧠 How I Built My Own Claude-Powered Code Predictor for VS Code (Before GitHub Copilot Caught Up)

“I needed Claude in my IDE. GitHub Copilot didn’t support it. So I built my own tool.”

As developers, we’re constantly looking for ways to boost our productivity without compromising code quality. When GitHub Copilot first hit the scene, it felt magical. But for me, Claude AI by Anthropic stood out — especially in terms of logical reasoning and structured code generation.

There was just one problem.

❌ Claude wasn’t integrated into my coding workflow.
❌ No VS Code extensions.
❌ No Copilot-like suggestions.

So, I took matters into my own hands.

🚀 Introducing Claude Code Predictor

Claude Code Predictor is a custom-built, open-source VS Code extension that brings the power of Claude’s code generation right into your editor.

Instead of switching between browser tabs and copying code from a chatbot, I now get real-time, in-editor predictions powered by Claude.

It’s fast.
It’s contextual.
It works with just a Claude API key.

🔧 Why I Built It

At the time of building this tool, GitHub Copilot didn’t support Claude. And I had already noticed that Claude generated better-quality logic and clearer, production-grade code — especially for backend workflows and typed languages.

But integrating Claude into my workflow wasn’t easy:

• No VS Code plugins.
• No CLI support.
• No autocomplete in the editor.

All I wanted was something like:

“Predict the next few lines of code based on my current file context — using Claude.”

So I rolled up my sleeves and made it happen.

💡 How It Works

Here’s the breakdown:

🧠 Context Gathering

• Captures the last n lines of code before your cursor (configurable).
• Automatically detects the language from the file extension.

🤖 Claude Prompting

• Sends the context to Claude via the API (or CLI if configured).
• Uses a detailed prompt crafted for code prediction:

“Predict the next few lines of code. No explanation. No markdown. Just the code.”

✍️ Inline Suggestions

• Displays Claude’s prediction inside VS Code as ghost text.
• You can enable/disable auto-suggest or manually trigger suggestions.

🧱 Intelligent Formatting

• Preserves indentation.
• Formats multi-line output to fit right into your code seamlessly.

🛠️ Features at a Glance

✅ Claude 3 support (via Anthropic API)
✅ Automatic language detection
✅ Inline or manual prediction mode
✅ CLI fallback (for offline/local Claude workflows)
✅ Configurable settings (tokens, debounce time, context lines)

Think of it like your own Claude-powered Copilot — before Copilot got smarter.

📂 Code & Setup

The project is fully open-source. Here’s how to get started:

git clone https://github.com/mrcreatist/claude-code-predictor
cd claude-code-predictor
npm install
code .

Make sure you enter your Claude API key in VS Code when prompted.

You can even map a shortcut or add a command to the Command Palette like Claude: Get Suggestion.

👉 Full setup guide and contribution instructions available in the GitHub repo.

🚧 What’s Next?

Here’s what I’m planning to add soon:

• Support for multiple Claude models (e.g., Claude Haiku for speed, Opus for depth)
• Feedback loop training using local usage logs (privacy-respecting)
• Model comparison: Claude vs GPT vs Copilot
• Prompt tuning and temperature customization per project

🔄 Final Thoughts

When tools don’t yet exist — that’s often your biggest opportunity.
This project started as a simple productivity hack for myself, but it’s now something I use daily.

If you:

• Prefer Claude over Copilot
• Want more control over your code suggestions
• Love building things with AI in your own dev setup

Then Claude Code Predictor is for you.

🧠 Try it. Fork it. Hack it.
Let’s make our editors smarter — our way.

🔗 Try it now → GitHub: mrcreatist/claude-code-predictor

🏷 SEO Tags

#ClaudeAI #VSCode #CodePrediction #CodeCompletion #DeveloperProductivity #OpenSourceAI #AIInCoding #AnthropicClaude #GPTvsClaude #PromptEngineering #CopilotAlternative #AItoolsForDevelopers