This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 3: Slow and Steady
Slow and Steady, One Codebase at a Time: Building RepoNap with Gemma
What I Built
I built RepoNap, an AI-powered codebase assistant that helps developers understand unfamiliar repositories without spending hours manually searching through files.
As a student developer, I know how confusing it can be to start exploring a new codebase. You have to find the important files, understand how different parts connect, and figure out where the logic lives.
RepoNap makes this process easier. You can connect a GitHub repository, scan its source files, explore the code, and ask questions in plain English to get AI-generated explanations based on relevant code.
Some of its main features include:
- Connect and analyze GitHub repositories.
- Browse scanned source files.
- Index code into smaller chunks for context retrieval.
- Ask questions about a codebase in plain English.
- Get AI-generated explanations using the configured Gemma model.
The idea is simple: take things one step at a time and make understanding code a little less overwhelming.
Demo 🚀
Try the deployed application here:
🔗 Live Demo: https://reponap-jyuvhpugg5q32rhwfl6m8x.streamlit.app/
You can explore the source code here:
💻 GitHub Repository: https://github.com/aditikshetty/RepoNap
Code
RepoNap is an open-source project. You can check out the code, explore how it works, and share suggestions or improvements on GitHub.
🔗 https://github.com/aditikshetty/RepoNap
How I Built It
I built RepoNap using Python and Streamlit, with Google's Gemma 3 open-weight model running through Ollama for AI-powered code explanations.
Here's how the workflow works:
- The user provides a GitHub repository URL.
- RepoNap scans the repository's source files.
- The code is split into smaller chunks and indexed.
- When a user asks a question, RepoNap retrieves relevant code sections.
- The retrieved context is sent to the configured Gemma model through Ollama.
- The model generates an explanation based on the available code context.
I wanted to explore how open-weight AI models could be used for a practical developer tool rather than just another basic chatbot.
Why Does Open Innovation Matter?
Open innovation gives developers the freedom to experiment, learn, and build without depending entirely on closed AI services.
Using Gemma through Ollama helped me explore an open-weight model and build an application around it. It also gave me more control over the model setup and how code context is passed into AI requests.
Open-source tools make it easier for students and independent developers like me to turn ideas into working projects, learn from existing technology, and improve what we've built with help from the community.
That's one of the things I like most about building in the open: there's always more to learn and room to improve.
My Agent Session
I'm leaving this section out for now because I don't have a DevRelay session link to share.
The Lazy Payoff
RepoNap is all about saving time when exploring unfamiliar code.
Instead of manually opening file after file to find a particular function or understand a piece of logic, developers can start by asking a question and reviewing the relevant code context.
It's still a work in progress, but building it has helped me understand how code indexing and open-source AI can work together to make developer workflows easier.
Prize Categories
I'm entering Best Use of Gemma because RepoNap uses Google's Gemma 3 open-weight model through Ollama to help developers explore and understand codebases.
I wanted to build something practical with Gemma that could help solve a real developer problem: making unfamiliar code easier to understand.
Final Thoughts
Building RepoNap has been a learning journey for me. I've been exploring repository analysis, code indexing, and open-source AI, and bringing them together into one application has given me plenty of ideas for future improvements.
The theme Slow and Steady feels fitting because building useful tools is an ongoing process. Every feature, bug fix, and experiment is another step forward.
Thanks for checking out RepoNap!
GitHub: https://github.com/aditikshetty
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