Codewhich

Codewhich is a software platform that helps developers discover and compare code implementations across public repositories. It indexes publicly available code, supports multiple languages, and presents results that include the language, repository, license, and date. For a given task, users can search for approaches and receive a ranked list of snippets and patterns, along with brief notes on complexity, readability, and integration considerations. The platform emphasizes licensing awareness by surfacing license information and potential conflicts.

Codewhich was founded in 2019 by software engineers Anna Li and Marcus Chen to address the challenge of choosing among competing coding approaches. The service released a beta in 2020 and has since expanded to integration with major code hosts and IDEs, as well as a plugin ecosystem. The core pipeline indexes new public code, normalizes formats, and computes relevance scores using keyword matching and semantic similarity, with optional filters for language, license, and date.

Users interact with Codewhich by entering a query describing a task or pattern. Results show code snippets with metadata, including repository, author, license, and suggested usage notes. Organizations can use the platform to inform code review and architectural discussions, or to verify licensing compliance before reuse.

Limitations include reliance on publicly available code, variable quality across sources, and the risk of misattributed or outdated snippets. Critics note that it does not replace hands-on testing or professional judgment, but can complement search and discovery in software development workflows.