Baseline Copilot

Your real-time web compatibility guide, right where you code

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Inspiration

Developers waste hours context-switching between MDN, caniuse.com, blog posts, and documentation just to check browser compatibility for new web features. Teams fear production bugs and hold back on modern tech adoption because compatibility information is scattered and hard to verify. Baseline Copilot was inspired by the need to make real-time, authoritative compatibility insights instantly available—right inside daily workflows—removing doubt and making every developer confidently use modern web APIs and features.

What it Does

Baseline Copilot is a coverage intelligence tool that reviews code (via GitHub, VSCode, and CLI) for usage of HTML, CSS, and JS features. It instantly checks those features against Baseline data, flagging anything not “Widely Available” and providing actionable recommendations, direct documentation links, and polyfill/fallback suggestions. Teams can see compatibility warnings inline as they code or review PRs, with impact summaries and auto-fix options for risky code.

How We Built It

Used the Baseline web-features npm package and Dashboard API to get real-time compatibility data.

Built a modular core analysis engine in Node.js (TypeScript) to scan code for feature usage.

Integrated with GitHub via an app that posts inline code review comments and impact scores in PR threads.

Created a VSCode extension for instant, in-editor compatibility hints and hovercards.

Developed a CLI tool for wide scan/compatibility reports in CI and dashboards.

Designed a clean, attractive UI/UX for comments, tooltips, and impact summaries to make information easy to grasp.

Challenges We Ran Into

Parsing real-world web code for accurate feature usage (including edge cases, minified files, and polyfills).

Ensuring Baseline data matched community expectations and handled rapid browser updates.

Making feedback actionable but non-intrusive, spamming too many warnings risks pushback from contributors.

Integrating smoothly into GitHub, VSCode, CI/CD pipelines, and keeping cross-platform behavior consistent.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

Delivered seamless, instant compatibility analysis with 1-click installation—no complex setup.

Helped developers confidently adopt modern web APIs and CSS features, without deep manual research.

Impactful, actionable feedback shown inline, not hidden behind logs or dashboards.

Designed extensible architecture: new IDEs, editors, and CI workflows can be plugged in with minimal code changes.

What We Learned

Developers love frictionless tools that directly solve daily pain points.

Real-time, contextual feedback makes the adoption of web standards much easier.

Machine-readable API/data unlocks many creative solutions in developer tooling.

Careful UX design (timing, verbosity, and actionable suggestions) greatly improves adoption and team happiness.

What's Next for Baseline Copilot

Auto-fix mode: Suggest precise code changes, commits, or PRs for risky compatibility.

Analytics dashboard: Org-wide tracking of compatibility issues, team adoption, and trends.

Expanded IDE/editor support (JetBrains, Vim, WebStorm).

Deep integration with documentation generators and CI analytics.

More customization—let teams set their own compatibility thresholds and auto-fix settings.

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