Choose Your Own Adventure: Non-Linear AI-Assisted Programming with EvoGraph
For developers using AI coding assistants, EvoGraph addresses the problem of managing non-linear, iterative workflows, offering a novel interaction paradigm that lowers cognitive load and supports safe exploration.
EvoGraph is an IDE plugin that uses a branching graph to represent AI-assisted coding history, enabling developers to compare, merge, and revisit states. In a user study with 20 participants, it reduced cognitive load and improved exploration and iteration compared to linear chat-based tools.
Current AI-assisted programming tools are predominantly linear and chat-based, which deviates from the iterative and branching nature of programming itself. Our preliminary study with developers using AI assistants suggested that they often struggle to explore alternatives, manage prompting sequences, and trace changes. Informed by these insights, we created EvoGraph, an IDE plugin that integrates AI interactions and code changes as a lightweight and interactive development graph. EvoGraph automatically records a branching AI-assisted coding history and allows developers to manipulate the graph to compare, merge, and revisit prior collaborative AI programming states. Our user study with 20 participants revealed that EvoGraph addressed developers' challenges identified in our preliminary study while imposing lower cognitive load. Participants also found the graph-based representation supported safe exploration, efficient iteration, and reflection on AI-generated changes. Our work highlights design opportunities for tools to help developers make sense of and act on their problem-solving progress in the emerging AI-mediated programming context.