Enhancing Annotation Process by Returning Indexes and Annotations Instead of Full File Content

[florianbgt]

Description:

In the current implementation of 'napi', the annotateOpenAICommandHandler function sends the entire content of each file to the OpenAI API for annotation. The API responds with the complete annotated file content, which is then written back to the respective files.

Problem:

This approach has two primary drawbacks:

1. Response Size Limitations: Transmitting and receiving full file contents can lead to issues with large codebases, as the OpenAI API has constraints on response sizes. This limitation hinders the tool's scalability and effectiveness for larger projects.
2. Potential Overwrites: Receiving and writing back the entire file content increases the risk of unintended overwrites or loss of existing code, especially if discrepancies arise between the sent and received content.

Objective:

Modify the annotation process so that the OpenAI API returns only the specific indexes (line numbers or character positions) and corresponding annotations, rather than the entire annotated file content. This change aims to:

• Reduce Response Size: By limiting the response to essential information, we can adhere to the OpenAI API's size constraints, enabling the tool to handle larger codebases more efficiently.
• Enhance Robustness: Applying annotations based on indexes minimizes the risk of overwriting existing code and ensures that only the intended sections are modified.

Proposed Solution:

1. Request Structure: Adjust the API request to specify that only annotation indexes and their content should be returned.
2. Response Handling: Implement logic to parse the API's response, identifying the exact locations and content of annotations.
3. File Modification: Develop a mechanism to insert the annotations at the specified indexes within the original files, preserving the existing code structure.