Carto

Overview

Carto bundles your entire codebase into a single, beautifully structured Markdown file — ready to paste into any AI assistant. It supports multi-provider AI (Gemini, OpenAI, Groq, Ollama), auto-detects your tech stack, and runs entirely locally on your machine. Features intelligent context bundling with a table of contents, tech stack detection, directory tree, and full file contents grouped by folder.

Features

• Multi-provider AI integration — Gemini, OpenAI, Groq, Ollama
• Intelligent context bundling with TOC, tech stack detection, and directory tree
• AI toggle for senior-engineer-level codebase analysis
• Full output preview with rendered markdown inside VS Code sidebar
• Auto tech stack detection from package.json, requirements.txt, go.mod, Cargo.toml, and more
• Security scanning — detects and excludes .env, private keys, and credentials
• Local AI support via Ollama for 100% offline operation

Challenges

• Abstracting multiple AI providers behind a unified interface with different streaming behaviors
• Building a performant markdown preview renderer within VS Code WebView constraints
• Implementing accurate tech stack detection across 10+ ecosystem file formats
• Designing security scanning that catches sensitive files without false positives

Learnings

• Deep understanding of VS Code extension architecture and WebView communication
• Multi-provider LLM integration patterns and streaming response handling
• File system scanning optimization for large codebases
• Security pattern detection and file exclusion strategies