Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions and answers about IfAI.

General

What is IfAI?

IfAI is an AI-native code editor built with AI at its core. Unlike traditional editors that add AI as an afterthought, IfAI is designed from the ground up for AI-assisted programming.

Is IfAI free?

Yes! IfAI is open source and free to use. You can download it from GitHub.

What platforms does IfAI support?

IfAI supports:

• macOS: 11+ (Big Sur or later)
• Windows: 10 or later (64-bit)
• Linux: Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora 35+, Debian 11+, and other modern distributions

AI Features

Which AI providers does IfAI support?

IfAI supports multiple AI providers:

Cloud APIs:

• OpenAI (GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo)
• Anthropic Claude (Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus)
• Zhipu AI (GLM-4.7, GLM-4.6)
• DeepSeek (DeepSeek-V3, DeepSeek-Coder)
• Kimi (Moonshot-v1-8k, Moonshot-v1-32k)

Local Models:

• Ollama (Qwen2.5-Coder, Llama 3.2, and more)

Do I need an API key?

For cloud providers, yes. Each provider requires an API key:

• OpenAI: Get key from platform.openai.com
• Anthropic: Get key from console.anthropic.com
• Zhipu: Get key from open.bigmodel.cn

For local models (Ollama), no API key is needed.

Can I use IfAI offline?

Yes! With Ollama and local LLMs, IfAI works completely offline:

1. Install Ollama
2. Download a model: ollama pull qwen2.5-coder
3. Select Ollama as your AI provider in IfAI settings

How much does it cost to use cloud AI?

Costs vary by provider:

• OpenAI GPT-4: ~$0.03-0.06 per 1K tokens
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet: ~$0.003-0.015 per 1K tokens
• Zhipu GLM-4: More affordable for Chinese users

Local models via Ollama are free (requires sufficient RAM).

Features

What is Composer?

Composer is IfAI's multi-file AI editing feature. It allows you to:

• Edit multiple files simultaneously
• Preview changes before applying
• Accept or reject individual edits
• Rollback all changes with one click

How does code navigation work?

IfAI uses Tree-sitter to parse code and build symbol indices:

• Go to Definition (F12): Jump to where functions, classes, or variables are defined
• Find References (Shift+F12): Find all usages of a symbol
• Supports 35+ programming languages

What languages does IfAI support?

IfAI supports 35+ languages including:

• JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Rust, Go, Java
• C, C++, C#, PHP, Ruby, Swift, Kotlin
• And many more!

Troubleshooting

AI is not responding

Solutions:

1. Check your API key in Settings
2. Verify network connection
3. Try switching AI providers
4. Check provider status page

"Context limit exceeded"

Solutions:

1. Remove some files from context
2. Clear chat history
3. Switch to model with larger context window
4. Use local model with unlimited context

Slow performance

Solutions:

1. Reduce number of files in context
2. Switch to faster model
3. Use local model for instant responses
4. Close unused files

Privacy & Security

Is my code sent to external servers?

Cloud providers: Yes, code is sent to the AI provider's servers

• Check provider privacy policies
• Avoid sharing sensitive data (API keys, passwords)

Local models (Ollama): No, everything stays on your machine

Where are API keys stored?

API keys are stored in your system's secure keychain:

• macOS: Keychain Access
• Windows: Credential Manager
• Linux: Secret Service API

Keys are never stored in plain text or logged.

Contributing

How can I contribute?

We welcome contributions! See Contributing Guide for details.

Where do I report bugs?

Report bugs at GitHub Issues.

How do I request features?

Request features at GitHub Discussions.

Still Have Questions?

• Documentation: https://github.com/peterfei/ifai/tree/main/docs
• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/peterfei/ifai/issues
• Discussions: https://github.com/peterfei/ifai/discussions