Extension Details

GPT Assistant is an extension that provides access to OpenAI's ChatGPT from within the Nova IDE, using a plain-text .gpt file as a conversation transcript. Requests are automatically bundled with contextual information regarding your current project.

How It Works

GPT Assistant is designed to work in a Nova Project window. After installing the extension:

1. Configure the extension's settings (see "Settings" below).
2. Create a new file in your project with a .gpt extension, such as assistant-transcript.gpt.
3. Open the file in a split view. If you would like to ask ChatGPT about a particular file in your project, open it in the other side of the split view. If you would like ChatGPT to focus on a particular part of your code, select it or place the cursor in that area.
4. In the .gpt file, type your prompt for ChatGPT, and select "Send Prompt to ChatGPT" from the Editor menu.
5. ChatGPT's response will be added to the end of your .gpt file. You may continue to add more prompts to the window as you wish.

Notes:

• When you submit a request to ChatGPT, GPT Assistant automatically includes:
  • An excerpt of the most recently active project file centered on the cursor's current position in the file
  • Filenames and relative positions of your project's working directory
  • The location of the current file within your project's directory
  • A portion of the most recent chat transcript
• GPT Assistant uses the OpenAI API, which may incur costs depending on your OpenAI plan and usage (see "Settings" below).
• GPT Assistant will not make any changes to your code; it only edits the current .gpt file by adding responses.
• Conversations in the .gpt file are not automatically saved; you are encouraged to save regularly if you wish to keep transcripts for future reference.

Settings

Before using GPT Assistant, you need to obtain an OpenAI API Key by doing the following:

1. Go to https://platform.openai.com/
2. Sign in or create an account
3. Navigate to View API Keys
4. Create a new secret key
5. Copy it somewhere safe (you won't be able to see it again in the OpenAI Dashboard)

Note that API usage may incur costs depending on your OpenAI plan and usage. As of January 2026, these tend to be small — likely less than a few dollars a month for even heavy usage — and the OpenAI dashboard allows you to set limits to prevent accidental overrun.

To use GPT Assistant, configure settings by going to Extensions → Extension Library and selecting GPT Assistant:

• OpenAI API Key: paste your OpenAI API Key here
• Model: defaults to gpt-4o-mini (recommended)
• Context to include: how much of your code you would like sent with each prompt. (Note that sending large files may overrun ChatGPT's token limits and/or incur higher costs.) Options include:
  • Code excerpt around cursor: up to 240 lines of the active file surrounding the cursor are sent with the prompt.
  • Currently active file: the entire currently active file is sent with the prompt.
  • All open files: the full contents of all open files in the project window are send with the prompt.
• Project Tree Depth: how many directory levels to include (defaults to 3)

Author's Note

This is my first Nova extension, and is provided as-is. You are responsible for:

• Managing API keys securely
• Understanding OpenAI's usage policies
• Reviewing and validating all AI-generated output

Coding Nova extensions is definitely not my day job, and I while I invite bug reports at toby@tobyrush.com, I don't have time to provide much in the way of support. I invite more seasoned developers to adapt and improve this project as they see fit!

AI tools were used to assist with development of this extension.

License

Released under the MIT License.
Attribution is appreciated but not required beyond the license terms.

Version 1.0

2026 Jan 04: Initial release.