Learn how Observe, Inc. overcame IntelliSense issues in their complex codebase using Augment. With faster, accurate code completions and improved code comprehension, they enhanced developer productivity, reduced onboarding time, and maintained workflow efficiency.

The Challenge

Observe, Inc., a leading observability platform, operates with an extensive and complex tech stack. The front end is built with TypeScript and React, while the back end utilizes GraphQL, Go, Kubernetes, and C++ for a custom query language.

Traditional tools like VS Code's IntelliSense struggled to keep up with the scale of their code, leading to poor or non-existent code suggestions. "Our codebase is so huge that the TypeScript server isn't able to really keep up... VS Code basically barely works," said Erica Gucciardo, Staff Software Engineer at Observe.

Why Augment?

Observe sought a solution that could enhance developer productivity and improve the developer experience. They chose Augment Code for several key reasons:

• Deep Context Awareness: Augment's ability to understand and process large codebases stood out. It provided accurate code completions and suggestions, even when dealing with unfamiliar parts of the code. "I was kind of shocked because it was able to make inferences that were correct, even though it wasn't given, in my view, all the data that it needed.”
• Superior Code Completions: Unlike traditional tools that faltered with large codebases, Augment delivered meaningful suggestions promptly. "Augment is actually better and faster than VS Code's own IntelliSense... it will just actually surface meaningful suggestions to [developers].”
• Enhanced Code Comprehension: Augment assisted developers in understanding complex code, especially in unfamiliar languages. "I used Augment to comment on the code for me so that I actually could read what the code is doing without actually having to understand what Go syntax is."
• Maintained Flow State: By providing quick and accurate code completions, Augment allowed developers to stay in the flow of coding without unnecessary interruptions. "It improves my coding speed... I just love how it improves my coding speed.”

The Results

Implementing Augment led to significant improvements for Observe's engineering team:

"Augment is able to distill down the information and surface it to you much faster than what VS Code is able to do. I think that's an automatic win, and I think everyone on my team should be using it just for that fact alone, because there's not much we can do to fix the underlying problems of just having too much code"

• Improved Developer Productivity: Developers could rely on Augment for efficient code completions, reducing the time spent typing and allowing focus on more critical tasks. "It kind of becomes so ingrained into your development process that it's kind of weird to even think of not using it sometimes.”
• Enhanced Developer Experience: With Augment handling code suggestions and comprehension, developers experienced a smoother workflow. "When I don't have Augment, I realize how much I rely on it... It feels kind of slow to type things out.”
• Efficient Refactoring: Augment simplified complex tasks like refactoring code. "You can also use it for refactoring, which I really like to do... I could just highlight the whole file and give it an instruction to rewrite it.”
• Reduced Onboarding Time: New team members could more easily navigate the large codebase with Augment's assistance, speeding up the onboarding process. “I honestly tell people when they join the team or who haven't been using Augment to use Augment because it will just actually surface meaningful suggestions to them.”

About Observe, Inc.

Observe, Inc. is an innovative observability platform based in San Mateo, California. They provide an all-in-one solution for managing logs, traces, metrics, and more, enabling customers to monitor applications, create alerts, and perform in-depth investigations—all within a single platform.

Industry: Software Development

Location: San Mateo, California

Team Size: 70 

Languages, Frameworks, Libraries: TypeScript, React, GraphQL, Go, Kubernetes, C++

IDE: VS Code & IntelliJ

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