# Coding Buddy

> Coding Buddy is a voice tutor for people learning to code. Talk to it out loud in VSCode: it sees your editor, points at the exact line, draws on your screen, and edits only after you say yes. For macOS.

Coding Buddy is a paid macOS app for people learning to program. The learner talks to it out loud while working in Visual Studio Code. It is a tutor rather than a code generator: by default it points at the relevant line and asks a guiding question instead of writing the fix.

## Facts

- Price: $12 per month, one plan. The first 7 days are free: a card is required at checkout and is not charged if the subscription is cancelled before the trial ends.
- Not included in the price: AI usage. The buyer connects their own Anthropic API key (the tutor that reads code) and OpenAI API key (the live voice), and is billed by those companies directly.
- Licensing: the buyer is shown a license key right after checkout and pastes it into the app. One subscription can be active on up to 2 Macs. When the subscription ends the app locks until it is renewed. The app checks the subscription online about once a day and keeps working for up to 7 days offline.
- Cancelling: subscribers cancel themselves at https://billing.stripe.com/p/login/6oUfZif43ePd4l79tx2kw00 (sign in with the checkout email).
- Download: https://www.codingbuddy.io/download/CodingBuddy-0.1.0.dmg (version 0.1.0, a notarized disk image for Apple Silicon and Intel). The download is free; the app needs an active subscription to do anything. It updates itself.
- Platform: macOS 14 or later only. No Windows or Linux version.
- Editor: Visual Studio Code only. A small VSCode extension is installed by the app.
- Interface and conversation languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese.
- Programming languages: not tied to one. It reads the open file as text along with VSCode's errors and warnings.

## What it does

- Live, interruptible voice conversation. Typing is also possible.
- Three teaching levels chosen by the learner: beginner (points and asks), intermediate (gives hints), advanced (says what is wrong and why).
- Highlights lines in the editor, leaves hints beside lines, opens files by name.
- Reads other files in the project, read-only, only after the learner allows it for that project.
- With screen sharing turned on, sees a screenshot per question and draws on the screen (boxes, circles, arrows, labels) to show where to look.
- Proposes an edit when asked, asks out loud for permission, and applies it only after the learner agrees. Every edit can be undone, and an edit is refused if the file changed since it was proposed.

## Privacy

- Voice audio is sent to OpenAI for the live conversation.
- The open file, any project files the tutor reads, and an optional screenshot are sent to Anthropic for that question.
- Coding Buddy does not store or log code or screenshots.
- Files that look like credentials (.env files, keys) are never sent, and no screenshot is taken while one is open.

## What it is not

- Not an autocomplete or an agent that builds features on its own.
- Not a course or curriculum: it helps with the code the learner is already writing.
- No free tier and no included AI credits.

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.codingbuddy.io/): what it does, pricing, questions.
- [Privacy](https://www.codingbuddy.io/privacy/): what leaves the Mac and what does not.