When integrating AI into your business and your development team, there are key questions to ask to ensure it meets your business needs, is safe to adopt, and will be effective.
These are the questions we'd ask: questions that matter once the tool has access to your codebase, is being used by your team, or is on your invoice. It is key for you to be certain of:
- the business terms;
- source code safety and data retention;
- practical on-the-ground value when it's being used, in multiple ways;
- and more.
These questions are critical for any coding agent for any technology.
A simple 'this product says it can be used with the programming language we use' or 'this is a name I have heard of' is not a solid assessment for the safety of your source code, ease of integration into your business, or real value for your developers.
These are fair questions to ask us, too, so we've answered each of them below.
Commercials
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Who holds the agreement with the AI provider — the vendor, or you? (In other words: do you need your own account or subscription with an AI company before the tool will work?)
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Is AI usage included in the price, or is it a separate subscription on top? What's the real total cost, per developer, per month?
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If the model provider changes price, terms or availability, who absorbs that?
Your code and IP
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What happens to your source code? Is it used for training? How long is it retained, and where?
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Can you get that that in writing, in a form you can hand to your legal or approvals team?
Fit for Delphi (or your language/environment)
You can replace 'Delphi' with your own language and environment here.
- Delphi-specific: Does it work with the whole environment, or only the text editor? Specifically: can it work in the form designer, with the designer open?
[For any other language/environment, there will be areas that make it unique: you can rewrite this question specific to your domain. Does the AI agent work with, or is it designed for, those unique areas for your language?]
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Can it compile the project and act on the results?
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Can it debug? In other words: can it actually solve problems?
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Does it know your third-party components and your own libraries — or only the standard library?
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Does it know what good Delphi (or your language) looks like, or just Delphi that compiles?
My team
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Do your developers use it where they already work, or do they have to adopt a new tool and workflow?
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How do you manage it across a team — seats, spend, which projects it can touch?
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Who do you call when it goes wrong, and what do they commit to?
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Can I trial it on a real project before committing?
We recommend evaluating any AI coding product on these questions: they're critical to get right for your business.
However, if you use Delphi, here are our answers for CodeBot for Delphi.
No tool can be perfect, and CodeBot is no exception. Here's how it currently measures up against these questions.
Commercials
1. Who holds the agreement with the AI provider — the vendor, or you? (In other words: do you need your own account or subscription with an AI company before the tool will work?)
We do.
You do not need a separate account or second subscription to another service in order to use CodeBot.
2. Is AI usage included in the price, or is it a separate subscription on top? What's the real total cost, per developer, per month?
Yes, AI usage is included in the subscription: one subscription, one product, one billing line item. You can see pricing here per user, for an exact total cost per developer per month.
3. If the model provider changes price, terms or availability, who absorbs that?
We do.
Note that we make a guarantee of data safety; this is something we ensure both on our behalf and for the provider we use.
Your code and IP
1. What happens to your source code? Is it used for training? How long is it retained, and where?
Your source code is not used for training. It is not retained anywhere permanent (disk, database, logs, etc.) It is held in computer memory for the few seconds it takes to process. No RemObjects employee can see it.
This data safety / privacy guarantee applies to all customers. You do not need a separate enterprise agreement for your business, nor are there different non-business or consumer terms. Solo or hobby developers are not treated differently. Large or small, business or consumer: when you use CodeBot, your source code is safe, period.
2. Can you get that that in writing, in a form you can hand to your legal or approvals team?
Yes.
We have a data / privacy notice here. Scroll down; it's detailed, and written specifically to be sent for legal / other approvals.
Fit for Delphi
1. Does it work with the whole environment, or only the text editor? Specifically: can it work in the form designer, with the designer open?
Yes. CodeBot is designed for Delphi, and works in the environment / IDE. It works with the form designer, including while open.
2. Can it compile the project and act on the results?
Yes.
In fact not only 'can', but it proactively does this when working.
3. Can it debug? In other words: can it actually solve problems?
Debugging (with a debugger) is on our roadmap.
Currently, it solves problems via source code analysis and diagnosis.
4. Does it know your third-party components and your own libraries — or only the standard library?
CodeBot knows which components and libraries – including third party and your own – are installed and used by Delphi. It can see these and refer to them when writing code. This means even for something completely custom of your own, it can write code the same way one of your own developers would.
5. Does it know what good Delphi looks like, or just Delphi that compiles?
It knows what good Delphi looks like: we have taught it.
My team
1. Do your developers use it where they already work, or do they have to adopt a new tool and workflow?
CodeBot for Delphi integrates where your developers already work, in Delphi itself. It's intended to be easy to approach: to come to your devs, not make them come to it; and can be used progressively as a developer gets used to it.
2. How do you manage it across a team — seats, spend, which projects it can touch?
We have a subscription, and you can purchase a specific number of seats. This gives a capped amount of usage per month, ie, you are not charged extra. If usage is used up then the service s.
Every user has access to a detailed Usage dashboard, allowing them to see exactly how they are spending their subscription.
CodeBot has a strict file system security policy & sandboxed access and can only touch the code relevant to the current projects open in the IDE. Read more here.
We have a list of team best practices to ensure your team gets the most out of CodeBot.
3. Who do you call when it goes wrong, and what do they commit to?
Us. Please find info on all our support options here. 4. Can I trial it on a real project before committing?
Currently there isn't a public trial flow, but we're happy to arrange access for evaluation on a real project. Just contact us!
Read our announcement blog post, our thorough documentation including Core Concepts and Using CodeBot, and CodeBot for Managers and Decision Makers.
CodeBot comes with a data safety notice including details on our AI provider. Your source code is safe. Send that notice to your Legal or Approvals team.
See CodeBot's subscriptions (per-seat; we have plans to suit all levels of use, and your subscription includes AI usage — there's no separate AI subscription to buy or manage) and download the installer here!
Any issues? Contact support. We're here to help you and your business.