Subscribe
Sign in
p/codestreamThe Code Review Tool Built for Remote Teams.
Start new thread
Chris Messina

CodeStream - Discuss, review, and understand code from inside your IDE

by
Top Hunter
•

CodeStream's cloud-based service and IDE plugins help dev teams discuss, review, and understand code. Enhance your existing services by connecting them to your source tree, and capture knowledge about your codebase while streamlining existing workflows.

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Peter Pezaris
Maker
Hi everyone! Understanding code that you didn’t write can be hard. We built CodeStream to make it easier to ask questions and get answers about how specific code works, and save those interactions where they below: with the code for the benefit of everyone one the team -- whether it’s next week, next month, or next year. If you’ve ever looked at some code and had the question “what is going on here?” you'll appreciate what we're trying to do. So please download CodeStream, try it out, and let me know what you think!
Dave Schukin
Our team has been using the IntelliJ beta for a few weeks, and... how did this kind of tool never exist until now? We used to copy-pasta code back & forth between Slack & our IDE just to ask each other questions, and it seriously feels like we just woke up out of the dark ages with this tool. Like, this is just how things should work. Period. Oh, and bookmarks are amazing. Thought they'd be useless (I can temporarily comment my own code, right?), but turns out to be a total game-changer when I need to grok new codebases.
Arvind Kunday
I've got to admit, whenever i'm looking at a chunk of code and need to ask clarifying question, my workflow was to find the file in Github, then find the line, click on it, go back to Slack and then message the person I wanted to ask the question. Usually by this time, I forget what i was about to ask :) This product addresses one of the biggest problem i've faced working for a large organisation. Slack has become a massive pain to deal with with so much non-important but interesting stuff to distract you from getting shit done. I can still be on my editor and talk about code, and not deal with the slack social banter? Sign me up! PS: I can't use this at work, but i'm going to give it a shot on my slack workspace/GitHub project. Thanks for making it and good luck!
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@kunday thanks for the thoughtful reply. This is exactly one of the use-cases we hope to simplify with CodeStream, although our larger mission is to SAVE that information in a way that can benefit the next developer on your team who might have the same question. CodeStream tags blocks of your code with the ID of the slack conversation thread, so that when any developer opens that file, our plugin can show you the discussion about that code. We implemented a "comment drift" algorithm to place that comment in the right place in your file, so if you commented on line 100 in one version of the file (let's say where a function started) but then in a future commit added 10 lines of new code above that, then CodeStream keeps your comment in sync with line 110. This way we can turn your conversation into documentation.
Jono Kolnik
This is awesome!
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@kolnik Thanks Jono much appreciated!
Zack Brown

The ever-growing list of integrations is awesome.

Pros:

Feels like the future of developer collaboration. Very well built product; never encountered any bugs.

Cons:

Requires a bit of wrangling to get your team to buy in and adopt it, just like any workflow tool. Well worth it though!

Dane Schneider
This is a really cool new approach to documentation. As opposed to comments (which tend to quickly get outdated) or dry and lifeless API docs, CodeStream lets you peek behind the curtains and understand the thought processes and discussions that underly tricky sections of code through multiple iterations. These discussions are currently taking place in Slack or other tools, but because they lack any connection to the code, they aren’t easily discoverable to a developer. CodeStream fixes this by integrating at the IDE level, making all that meta-knowledge that used to disappear into the ether feel like a direct extension of the codebase.
JBDestiny

the square root of 121 is 11. 999 of 1,000 adults do not know this simple fact. Marcus Aurelius was born 121 AD. He taught simplicity, “Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’” Code Stream is

Pros:

intuitive interface. Why wasn’t something like this available before now?

Cons:

it has a terrible singing voice

Joe Beutler
Keep on crushing it team!
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@eulerr Thanks Denis, much appreciated
Nicky Montana
Absolutely love this! Great work and a can't wait to implement this for our team!
Howard Howard
Ditto on many of the comments I've seen on this site and others about CodeStream: once you use it, you're baffled how it didn't exist previously. It's that fundamentally useful.
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@howard_howard Thanks for the comment. We actually get that reaction a lot, especially after doing a demo. To be honest when we first thought of the product we were sure someone had done it before, but it turns out nobody had. I guess somebody had to be first?
Keith Daulton
This looks super cool. Is it compatible with Visual Studio on the Mac too (Xamarin)?
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@keithdaulton1 Unfortunately, no, as that is a completely different editor with a different set of extension APIs. there was a rumor going around at MS Build that MSFT is working to unify their VS extension APIs (which would make life a lot easier for us), but we haven't been able to get confirmation on that yet.
Robert Sturm

Great company, great product, great chance to boost team productivity.

Pros:

Enables easy collaboration between my web dev teams

Cons:

I'd love to see video comments incorporated

Ruben Salazar

Can’t wait to see this product grow!

Pros:

I work in a small shop and this is a great way to help our team grow. Our code is unique and we have a hard time training new developers.

Cons:

I don’t have enough experience to list any cons

Rob Fisher

As an executive level manager I don't deal with "code" directly but I can see how CodeStream will be a valuable tool in increasing efficiencies and collaboration among developer teams.

Pros:

Excellent interface and easy to understand/follow.

Cons:

Couldn't find any.

Glenn Dorsam
Does this work with VIM?
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@glenn_dorsam not yet; VIM will be difficult to support but we're hoping for something in a few months.
Tom Hadfield
I love this, @peter_pezaris. What's on your product roadmap over the next few months?
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@tomhadfield Two big projects currently underway are MS Teams support and a Docker-based on-prem solution. Then Eclipse and Sublime support. Plus a few surprises we're keeping close to our vest for now :)
Luis Troccoli
Does this work with MS Teams?
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@ltroccoli not yet, although it's next on our roadmap. Probably 3-4 weeks out. if you are interested in getting a sneak-peek of a beta in a couple of weeks, shoot an email over to pez@codestream.com
Tom Hart
Do you support any other source control tools in addition to git, like perforce?
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@tom_hart1 not yet, although we have received some requests from larger enterprise for perforce support. we estimate it would take about 2 weeks to build that out. shoot me an email at pez@codestream.com if you'd like more details.
Spencer Cassidy
Amazing work here, @peter_pezaris and team! Can't wait to try this out.
Peter Pezaris
Maker
@spencer_cassidy thanks very much! please let me know whatever feedback you may have once you give it a shot