Feat: Support basic Symbol navigation inside AI coding session by tninja · Pull Request #258 · tninja/ai-code-interface.el

tninja · 2026-03-22T05:02:27Z

This is an improvement on top of existing file path & url navigation #249

It will try 1. LSP; 2. xref; 3. helm-gtags to navigate

Verified that both vterm and eat backends works.

This reverts commit b205107.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds basic symbol linkification + navigation to AI session buffers, building on the existing in-repo file/URL link support so users can jump from agent output to relevant code locations more directly.

Changes:

Linkify “symbol-like” tokens appearing near a resolved file link and make them clickable with dedicated keybindings.
Add navigation commands to open the associated file link and then resolve the symbol via xref, helm-gtags, or buffer search.
Extend ai-code--explain-dired to include context for multiple selected files/directories.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

File	Description
`ai-code-session-link.el`	Adds symbol candidate detection, properties/keymap, and navigation commands integrated into session linkification.
`test/test_ai-code-session-link.el`	Adds ERT coverage for symbol linkification behavior and symbol navigation fallbacks.
`ai-code-discussion.el`	Updates Dired explain prompt generation to handle multiple selections and format multi-file context.

Copilot · 2026-03-22T05:07:00Z

ai-code-discussion.el

  (let* ((file-at-point (dired-get-filename nil t))
-         (git-relative-path (when file-at-point
-                             (car (ai-code--get-git-relative-paths (list file-at-point)))))
-         (files-context-string (when git-relative-path
-                                (concat "\nFiles:\n@" git-relative-path)))
+         (all-marked (dired-get-marked-files))
+         (has-marked-files (> (length all-marked) 1))
+         (context-files (if has-marked-files
+                            all-marked
+                          (when file-at-point
+                            (list file-at-point))))


dired-get-marked-files is now called unguarded. In Dired, this can signal an error when point is not on a file line (e.g., header/subdir lines), which would regress the previous behavior that handled nil from dired-get-filename gracefully. Consider wrapping the call in ignore-errors and/or using the existing “explicit marks” detection pattern used elsewhere (e.g., treat a single entry equal to file-at-point as ‘no explicit marks’) so the command doesn’t error and also supports a single explicitly-marked file.

Copilot · 2026-03-22T05:07:01Z

ai-code-session-link.el


 (declare-function ai-code-session-navigate-link-at-mouse "ai-code-input" (event))
 (declare-function ai-code-session-navigate-link-at-point "ai-code-input" ())
+(declare-function helm-gtags-find-tag "ext:helm-gtags" (tagname))


The declare-function for helm-gtags-find-tag points at "ext:helm-gtags", but there is no corresponding library file in the repo and this doesn’t match typical declare-function usage (it’s usually the providing library name like "helm-gtags"). Using a non-existent file string can confuse tooling (e.g., check-declare/jump-to-definition). Consider changing it to the actual library name or removing the declaration and relying on the existing (fboundp ...) checks.

Suggested change

(declare-function helm-gtags-find-tag "ext:helm-gtags" (tagname))

(declare-function helm-gtags-find-tag "helm-gtags" (tagname))

Copilot · 2026-03-22T05:07:01Z

test/test_ai-code-session-link.el

+(ert-deftest ai-code-session-link-test-linkify-session-region-prefilters-java-camelcase-symbols ()
+  "Linkify nearby bare CamelCase symbols for Java files."
+  (let* ((root (make-temp-file "ai-code-session-links-java-camelcase-" t))


This test name/docstring suggests the behavior is restricted to Java files, but the implementation linkifies CamelCase candidates regardless of the referenced file extension (and there’s another test explicitly asserting it works outside Java). Consider renaming the test to reflect “Java-style CamelCase symbols” rather than implying a .java-only filter to avoid misleading future readers.

Copilot · 2026-03-22T05:07:01Z

test/test_ai-code-session-link.el

+(ert-deftest ai-code-session-link-test-linkify-session-region-prefilters-python-snake-case-symbols ()
+  "Linkify nearby bare snake_case symbols for Python files."
+  (let* ((root (make-temp-file "ai-code-session-links-python-snake-case-" t))


This test name/docstring suggests snake_case linkification is specific to Python files, but the implementation treats snake_case as a generic symbol candidate (and there’s another test asserting it works outside Python). Consider renaming to “Python-style snake_case symbols” (or similar) so the test description matches the actual behavior.

Copilot · 2026-03-22T05:07:01Z

test/test_ai-code-session-link.el

+(ert-deftest ai-code-session-link-test-linkify-session-region-prefilters-elisp-hyphen-symbols ()
+  "Linkify code-like Elisp symbols while skipping nearby prose hyphen words."
+  (let* ((root (make-temp-file "ai-code-session-links-elisp-symbols-" t))


The term “prefilters Elisp symbols” in this test name/docstring can read like the behavior is gated by file type, but the current implementation applies the same heuristics regardless of the linked file’s extension. Consider renaming to something like “hyphenated elisp-style symbols” / “elisp-symbol-like hyphen candidates” to better match what’s being asserted.

chatgpt-codex-connector

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-22T05:08:15Z

ai-code-discussion.el

+         (all-marked (dired-get-marked-files))
+         (has-marked-files (> (length all-marked) 1))
+         (context-files (if has-marked-files


Treat a single Dired mark as selected context

ai-code--explain-dired only treats marks as active when > 1 entries are returned, so an explicit single marked file is ignored and the command falls back to file-at-point. In Dired, users commonly mark exactly one file and move point elsewhere before running commands, so this now explains the wrong file/directory in that workflow. Using the same “truly marked” logic as ai-code--ask-question-dired would avoid this regression.

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-22T05:08:15Z

ai-code-session-link.el

+  (when-let* ((link (ai-code-session-link--parse-file-link-text text))
+              (file (plist-get link :file))
+              (abs-file (ai-code-session-link--resolve-session-file file)))
+    (find-file-other-window abs-file)


Disambiguate duplicate filenames before opening symbol context

Symbol navigation opens the associated file via ai-code-session-link--resolve-session-file, which resolves basename collisions by taking the first match, so in repos with duplicate filenames (for example multiple utils.py files) clicking a symbol can jump into the wrong file and then run xref/search there. Regular file-link navigation already handles this by prompting when multiple candidates exist, so this path should use equivalent disambiguation instead of silently picking one match.

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

tninja added 7 commits March 21, 2026 21:06

Linkify symbols near file links and add navigation

ed57bc9

Add helm-gtags fallback for symbol navigation

3a4a6c5

Add Dired support to context files and tests

b205107

Revert "Add Dired support to context files and tests"

4b29e14

This reverts commit b205107.

Support explaining multiple marked files in Dired

5c5511f

Linkify Java CamelCase and Python snake_case

5af1142

Refactor symbol detection and relax file checks

03e1ed9

tninja requested a review from Copilot March 22, 2026 05:04

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of tninja March 22, 2026 05:04 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

chatgpt-codex-connector bot reviewed Mar 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

Tighten Java CamelCase detection and tests

a4f44ca

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Feat: Support basic Symbol navigation inside AI coding session#258

Feat: Support basic Symbol navigation inside AI coding session#258
tninja wants to merge 8 commits intomainfrom
kang_feat_1

tninja commented Mar 22, 2026 •

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	(declare-function helm-gtags-find-tag "ext:helm-gtags" (tagname))
	(declare-function helm-gtags-find-tag "helm-gtags" (tagname))

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Pull request overview

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tninja commented Mar 22, 2026 •

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