Extension Panel

AI Q&A Assistant

The extension has a built-in AI documentation Q&A assistant, which is the main area of the panel. You can ask questions directly against the Realtek Ameba documentation knowledge base without leaving VS Code. For more information, refer to the AI Chatbot section.

How to use:

1. Enter a question in the AI Q&A area, the main area of the panel, then click Send or press Enter to send it; press Shift+Enter for a new line. When the input box is a single line, press the ↑ / ↓ keys to browse the questions you sent before.

2. Click the mode button at the bottom right of the input box to switch the answer mode (see the table below).

3. To include files, click Attach file to add attachments.

4. The AI assistant returns an answer and lists the related documentation sources under Sources below the answer. Click one to open it in the browser.

5. While an answer is being generated, you can click Stop generation to stop it.

6. Click 👍 / 👎 to rate an answer. When you click 👎, you can select a reason (Incorrect Information / Not Relevant / Question Not Addressed) and submit the feedback.

7. Click New chat to start a new conversation; the current conversation history is cleared.

Answer modes:

Mode	Description
⚡ Fast (default)	Quick answers.
🧠 Deep	Deep thinking mode. The thinking time is shown above the answer (for example Thought for 12s).

Once Deep is selected, later questions keep using that mode until you switch back to Fast. The mode button cannot be clicked while an answer is being generated.

Note

• The AI Q&A assistant requires a network connection and is unavailable offline.

• Answers are based on the public RealMCU documentation. They are for reference only and do not represent real-time technical support.

Command Panel and Status Bar

The extension provides a customizable command panel and a bottom status bar for quickly running common operations.

Command Panel

• Commands: Lists the common commands. Each row has a checkbox on the left; checking it makes the corresponding action button appear in the bottom status bar. The checked state is saved and restored automatically after the extension restarts. It contains a collapsible Advanced sub-area (collapsed by default) that provides entries for advanced commands. Advanced commands have no checkbox and do not appear in the status bar.

• Selection area / action area: The chip, serial port and example dropdowns, plus a row of quick icon buttons.

Complete list of command panel commands:

Command	Description
Menuconfig	Open the SDK configuration interface. How it opens is determined by the Menuconfig Mode setting
Clean	Clean the project build output
Build	Build the project
Flash	Flash the firmware
Monitor	Open the serial monitor
Debug	Start the debugger
Docs	Open the official Ameba documentation
Setup Wizard ▸	Open the Setup Wizard
New External Project ▸	Open the New External Project wizard
Import External Project ▸	Import an existing external project
Set Root SDK Path ▸	Create or update the .vscode configuration for the current project; for external projects, it can be used to choose the SDK path and target chip
Save Project Configuration ▸	Save the current menuconfig configuration as prj.conf
Full Clean ▸	Deep-clean the project (including the SoC build cache)
Open Ameba Terminal ▸	Open the dedicated Ameba terminal with the SDK environment activated

Note

• Commands marked with ▸ are advanced commands in the Advanced area.

• When the SDK environment is not ready, the main commands except Docs are grayed out and cannot be clicked; advanced commands are always clickable.

Selection Area

• Chip selection: Select the Ameba series chip you want to develop for from the dropdown menu.

• Serial port selection: The extension automatically scans and updates all available serial ports in the system. Select the serial port name of your development board from the dropdown menu.

• Example selection:

  • Only SDK Root projects support example selection; external projects do not show the example dropdown.

  • Select the corresponding application example from the dropdown menu; select None to clear the selection.

  • After an example is selected, if a README.md exists in the example directory, its preview is opened automatically.

  • When you click Build, the selected example is included in the build; by default, or when None is selected, the base project configuration is built.

  • If the example directory contains a prj.conf, that configuration file is used forcibly during the build (the -p argument is appended automatically).

  • The example selection is saved per workspace. After switching the SDK, if the selected example does not exist in the new SDK, the selection is reset to None automatically.

Bottom Status Bar

The bottom status bar is divided into selection items and action items, with selection items on the left and action items on the right:

• Selection items (left): Show the current chip, serial port and example; click one to open a quick-pick list. They are always shown; external projects do not show the example.

• Action items (right): Show only the commands checked in the command panel. They are icon-only buttons, and clicking one runs the corresponding command directly.

• When the SDK environment is not ready, the selection items keep only the chip item and show ⚠ Not Ready, and all action buttons are hidden.

• While a command is running, its icon is replaced by a spinning loading animation; if the command fails, the icon briefly turns into a red error icon.