The Design Space of in-IDE Human-AI Experience
Current AI assistant features in IDEs exhibit a significant misalignment with developers’ authentic needs, necessitating a systematic understanding of heterogeneous user requirements. Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 35 practitioners—comprising AI adopters, attriters, and non-users—to empirically construct the first human-AI interaction design space for IDE-integrated AI assistants. Through thematic coding and cross-cohort comparative analysis, we identified fundamental divergences across user groups along five dimensions: reliability, privacy, personalization, proactivity, and ethical concerns. Contribution/Results: We propose a role-driven, five-dimensional design framework—encompassing technical robustness, interaction modality, goal alignment, skill abstraction, and cognitive offloading—alongside 12 actionable design guidelines. This work advances IDE AI tools toward greater reliability, contextual awareness, privacy-by-design, and seamless workflow integration.