I recently read Matt Mulvaney's post about using CoPilot's free version within VS Code to help build APEX applications and packages. We've been doing something similar here at Redstone, using Claude and Windsurf.
One thing Matt's blog post didn't cover that I wanted to note was that once you get used to auto-complete it can be frustrating using a code editor that doesn't. Windsurf offers a Chrome Extension to add auto-completions to any online IDE, including Oracle APEX!
Installation
First, install the extension to a Chromium-based browser like Arc, Dia, Chrome, Edge, Comet, and many others.
Windsurf Plugin: AI Code Autocompletion on all IDEs
Once it's installed, you'll need to create a free account and allow the extension to access sites you visit. It starts with some common online editors like CodePen, JSFiddle, GitHub, etc, but allows you to add your own (with regex support).
Add this line to the allow-list in the extension options for any OCI hosted instance, and any free APEX workspace:
https?:\/\/(.*\.)?oraclecloudapps\.com(\/.*)?
https?:\/\/(.*\.)?oracleapex.com(\/.*)?Click Save when you're finished!
Usage
It should be pretty apparent when the suggestions are active. You'll see the same auto-complete you're used to in any present-day IDE! Some examples:
Pressing tab accepts the suggestion
Note
Keep in mind this extension can only see the code present in the current input box. That means it doesn't know your schema, or your other page items/interactions. It can read your clipboard, and in my experience does a pretty decent job of templating out things like case statements or joins.
As always, review the generated code to ensure it's doing what you intended.