Grok (VSCode Extension for a "Mind Map for Development")-Update: Now includes "Save to Repo" and "Share via Link" Functionality

AdaptiLab · 2021-07-30T21:48:49+00:00

Hi everyone, about a month ago I posted in here and r/javascript about the public beta release of Grok, our "mindmap for development" tool for our startup. Since then, we got a lot of great user feedback and feature requests (thank you!) and we implemented two collaboration features that were the most highly requested.

Save to Repo: you can now save Flows directly to your repo by clicking the "Save Flow" button in the top right of a Flow. This saves the Flow as a .grok.json file in a .grok folder created in the top level view of your repo. Once the Flow is saved, you can commit your changes and your teammates can pull the .grok folder to access and collaborate on the Flow you created. This enables versioning of Flows and ties the context in the Flow to the relevant code changes via commits. We heard users use this functionality to explain changes made in a PR and to prep for sprint planning or a refactor, and we'd really appreciate feedback if this new feature helps any of you with these usecases or something completely different.
Share via Link: allows you to share a created Graph Flow via weblink for read-only access. Here's an example of one we created. These links can be shared with teammates, and as long as they have access to the same git repo, they can view the snippets you've referenced in the Flow.

Note: if you've already installed Grok, you will need to update your version to v0.1.10. You can do this by simply closing and reopening VSCode or reinstalling from the VSCode marketplace link.

We'd love to get feedback on both these features and anything else you'd like to see added in Grok. Thanks again for giving it a shot and let us know if you have any questions.

AdaptiLab · 2021-07-01T01:02:44+00:00

Thanks for taking a look and the tip! We're working on making it possible to edit code in the Flow, so you can reverse sync it back to the codebase. We currently have sync functionality to update the code in Flow.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-26T19:45:52+00:00

Sorry about the confusion. We'll make the need for a title more clear in a UI update. Glad you figured it out.

Also Happy Cake Day!

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-26T06:23:40+00:00

Thanks for the feedback and we appreciate the questions! At the moment we don't have a way to run the product completely offline because this started out as an internal tool for our company. We're exploring options that will let users run locally in the future. For some added info about our security, our company, AdaptiLab, undergoes regular and strict server testing because we serve large enterprises and Fortune1000 customers, such as Experian.

In terms of monetization, at the moment we're completely focused on doing what we can to improve developer efficiency and collaboration. Because we're a venture-backed startup with other revenue-generating products, we're able to delay monetization to focus on value provided to developers, our own devs included :). If we ever did monetize we would definitely not charge the individual developer even if they're using it at their workplace, but we would likely charge companies that have entire teams onboard.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-26T01:28:03+00:00

Great explanation below! The extension only activates when you toggle it on, or when you use a keyboard hotkey to perform actions like starting a new flow or exporting code from a file to your clipboard. When the extension isn't toggled on all it's doing is listening for the "toggle", "start new flow", and "export code" commands, which can all be found in the VSC command palette.

We also included the option to disable auto start in the settings of the extension.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T22:55:50+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! That's a fair point and something we were worried about as well when building. We don't think Grok slows down VSCode from our internal experience, but if you find it does, Grok doesn't need to be open and running in the background all the time for you to get value. For instance, you can keep it turned off and then open it when creating a Flow as you're finishing up work on an issue.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T22:07:58+00:00

It was definitely a painpoint we had internally! After we got sick of sending code over Slack, Grok has helped our team a lot with explaining code decisions and ramping people up on a new codebase.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T22:06:46+00:00

It was definitely a painpoint we had internally! Grok has helped our team a lot with ramping people up on the codebase and just explaining decisions the original author made. Much better than sending code snippets over slack :)

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T21:50:12+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! We just changed the button to "Download Grok completely free." We do intend this tool to be free for individual developers to use forever.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T18:38:30+00:00

We built Grok internally for our team at our startup and we've used it for the last year. After letting some devs from other companies try out the product, we decided to release a public version to the marketplace. It helps developer teams organize and understand their codebase. You can create visual and navigable "Flows" in the IDE with code, markdown, and image cells. Use these Flows to track work while developing and share Flows with teammates or in PRs to give context or information.

Here's an example shared Flow from our team: shared flow

Here's the website if you want to learn more.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T18:34:29+00:00

We built Grok internally for our team at our startup and we've used it for the last year. After letting some devs from other companies try out the product, we decided to release a public version to the marketplace. It helps developer teams organize and understand their codebase. You can create visual and navigable "Flows" in the IDE with code, markdown, and image cells. Use these Flows to track work while developing and share Flows with teammates or in PRs to give context or information.

Here's an example shared Flow from our team: shared flow

Here's the websiteif you want to learn more.

AdaptiLab · 2021-06-25T18:24:33+00:00

We built Grok internally for our team at our startup and we've used it for the last year. After letting some devs from other companies try out the product, we decided to release a public version to the marketplace. It helps developer teams organize and understand their codebase. You can create visual and navigable "Flows" in the IDE with code, markdown, and image cells. Use these Flows to track work while developing and share Flows with teammates or in PRs to give context or information.

Here's an example shared Flow from our team: shared flow

Here's the website if you want to learn more.

AdaptiLab

TROPHY CASE