Codebase tours & codebase chat

Contral can study a whole repository and turn it into a guided tour and learning path, then answer your questions about it. This is useful when you join a new project or inherit code an AI agent wrote.

Run a codebase analysis ("Learn this codebase")#

1. Open the project folder in your editor and sign in to Contral.
2. Open the Codebase tab in the Contral panel and click Learn this codebase, or run Contral: Learn this codebase from the Command Palette.
3. Contral scans the project, builds an understanding of its structure, and produces:
   • A guided tour of the important parts, with citations to the actual files
   • A learning path tailored to that codebase

Each analysis uses one codebase analysis from your plan.

Monthly allowances reset on the 1st of each month at 00:00 UTC. When you run out you'll see "Codebase analysis limit reached ({used}/{limit}). Upgrade to Pro for more."

Codebase chat: ask questions about your project#

After an analysis, ask free-form questions in the Codebase tab, such as "Where is authentication handled?" or "What happens when an order is placed?". You can also ask Contral to explain a file in the context of the whole project.

In VS Code's built-in Chat view, use @contral /codebase <question>.

Codebase chat is unlimited on every paid plan and all AppSumo tiers. The Free plan includes 3 codebase questions in total.

Map a codebase quickly with /map#

Type /map (or /codebase) in the Build chat for a quick map of the project's structure. /map runs locally and doesn't use a codebase analysis or any other quota.

Explain a single file or selection#

• Explain selection: select code, right-click and choose Contral: Explain selection.
• Learn this file: right-click in the editor or click the Contral button in the editor title bar and choose Contral: Learn this file.

These count as code explanations: 5 per day on Free, unlimited on paid plans and all AppSumo tiers.

Catch me up on git changes#

Run Contral: Catch me up on git changes to get teaching cards for recent commits, for example after pulling a teammate's work. Contral can also offer a catch-up after you commit; turn that off with the contral.catchUp.enabled setting.