Build Your Own Editor: AI Apply Inside Custom IDEs

Build editor‑native AI with explicit apply, preview, and rollback instead of brittle patches.

1 min readBy Morph Engineering Team
Monaco
Editor Surface
LSP
Language Features
Apply
Deterministic Merge

Editor Integration Principles

A good editor‑AI loop keeps the editor in control and the model on a short leash. Morph Apply makes that possible.

Preview Before Apply

Always show a diff preview before writing to disk.

Audit‑Friendly Output

Return clean merged files so the editor can log and review changes.

Scoped Context

Apply changes only to the selected file or diff scope to avoid side‑effects.

Minimal Apply Payload

Keep the apply call explicit and isolated to the file being edited.

Instruction + File + Update

<instruction>Extract the helper into a new function</instruction>
<code>function render(){ /* ... */ }</code>
<update>Create a new helper function and call it from render.</update>

Editor Safety Checklist

Make your AI features feel trustworthy by default.

Trust Signals

  • Always show a diff preview.
  • Let users revert with a single click.
  • Log the applied instruction alongside the output.
  • Keep apply operations scoped to the selected file.

Ship a Trustworthy Editor

Use Morph Apply to deliver AI edits with preview, audit, and rollback built in.