Your AI connector for Visual Studio

Visual Studio is built for large, complex, multi-language projects but even the best IDE needs help keeping track of your work over time.

Pieces is your AI connector for Visual Studio: a free, on-device assistant that brings memory, AI understanding, and reusable context into your day-to-day coding workflow.

From C# to C++, legacy code to modern refactors, Pieces helps your AI tools stay grounded in what actually matters: your project.

Why use Pieces as your AI connector for Visual Studio?

Context that persists across sessions

Pieces remembers what your project looked like yesterday and why you made that change two weeks ago.

• Add project folders, files, and snippets as structured context

• Save code with AI-enriched metadata and tags

• Use long-term memory to fuel smarter prompts, search, and refactoring

• Interact with Copilot that knows more than just your current file

Your Visual Studio project becomes more than a folder, it becomes a growing knowledge base.

Smart AI where you already work

With Pieces embedded into Visual Studio, you don’t need to bounce between tools to access intelligent assistance:

• Ask questions about a specific file, snippet, or function

• Refactor, document, or troubleshoot without breaking flow

• Reuse code from previous sessions or related projects

• Store context across long-lived .NET solutions

This makes Pieces one of the best AI connectors for Visual Studio users building long-term, high-stakes software.

Set up your free AI connector for Visual Studio

Step 1: Install PiecesOS

PiecesOS powers the AI enrichment, memory engine, and integrations across your tools.

• Compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux

• Download PiecesOS

Once installed, enable Long-Term Memory via the Quick Menu to start capturing and reusing project context.

Step 2: Install the Pieces for Visual Studio extension

• Open Visual Studio

• Go to Extensions > Manage Extensions

• Search for Pieces for Visual Studio

• Click Download and restart the IDE

Once installed, you’ll see the Pieces panel and right-click options available in the Solution Explorer and editor windows.

Step 3: Sign in to unlock AI-powered features

Sign into your Pieces account to unlock:

• AI-powered search and Copilot functionality

• Secure sharing of enriched snippets

• Cloud sync (optional) across machines and teams

All features work fully offline by default – Pieces is local-first.

What you can do with Pieces in Visual Studio

How Pieces compares to built-in AI tools

Visual Studio now ships with AI tools like IntelliCode and GitHub Copilot. But what they lack is memory.

Pieces complements your existing AI tooling by:

• Remembering your past sessions

• Keeping track of reusable snippets and patterns

• Linking AI outputs to real project files and team notes, including Github, Cursor and Goose

• Working across projects, not just in a single context

This makes it a powerful Visual Studio Copilot alternative or companion for devs working on complex or evolving software.

Perfect for enterprise and individual developers

• .NET engineers managing large codebases

• C++ developers dealing with legacy logic

• Teams documenting system design over time

• Solo devs who want smarter recall and reuse

• Anyone who wants AI to know what they’ve done before

Why Pieces is the best AI connector for Visual Studio

• Free and open for personal use

• Built-in memory across sessions and tools

• Fully offline, with opt-in cloud sync

• Compatible with major LLMs (GPT-4, Claude, etc.)

• Developed with real-world coding workflows in mind

• A productivity multiplier for code, docs, and AI alike

Try Pieces for Visual Studio today

If you’re building software that spans months, files, and teams this is the AI connector that keeps your project context close and your productivity high.

Download Pieces today. No credit card required.