{"id":4580,"date":"2025-10-22T03:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T07:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/?p=4580"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T16:50:17","slug":"visual-assist-2025-4-release-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/visual-assist-2025-4-release-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Visual Assist 2025.4 release post"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visual Assist 2025.4 is now released and is available to download.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">VA 2025.4 is one of our biggest releases to date. This release features 60+ new code inspections checkers for C++ safety. We also overhauled the UI for key features and added a new welcome experience for first time installs, and most remarkably, we\u2019re introducing our AI integration: VA Intelligence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/downloads\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">download the release now<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by visiting our website download page but we highly recommend reading through our release post to learn about everything we added and how to enable and use them.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Added new code inspections checkers for C++ safety (with new preset profiles)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/en\/documentation\/code-inspection\/introduction-to-code-inspection\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">code inspections<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> checkers based on Clang Tidy have also been added as the community adapts to emerging requirements for C++ safety. This release adds an <\/span><b>extensive set of 60+ code inspection checkers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> specifically focused on coding safety. According to our lead dev, the team has &#8220;never had anything close to this many checkers in one release.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The C++ safety checkers are based on a subset of C++ coding practices and guidelines designed to eliminate common sources of bugs, undefined behavior, and security vulnerabilities. It emphasizes memory safety, type safety, and preventing common programming errors that can lead to crashes, security exploits, or unpredictable behavior. These checkers analyze your code and identify potential issues related to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Memory safety violations<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improper use of move semantics<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Type safety concerns<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Performance issues<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other C++ best practices<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Why add these inspections now<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C++ gives developers direct control over memory and system resources \u2014 but that same control makes it easy to introduce memory corruption, undefined behavior, or data races. Unlike newer languages (Rust, Swift), C++ provides no built-in memory safety guarantees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The C++ standards committee has been hard at work to introduce changes to alleviate this problem. For instance, the committee is pushing for the adoption of\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/isocpp.org\/files\/papers\/P3081R1.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C++ profiles<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which are subsets or configurations of C++ that disable or restrict the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unsafe portions <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the language.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the C++ standards committee and industry move toward \u201cprofiles\u201d for safer C++, most developers still work in existing, large, mixed-quality codebases. They can\u2019t immediately switch to a strict safety profile \u2014 but they can start improving safety incrementally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s where our code inspection tools come in. They give <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">developers a bridge between current C++ practice and future safety standards by using a convenient and automatic way of detecting unsafe or non-conforming patterns of code.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>How code inspections work<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Code inspections are sensors added by Visual Assist that automatically work as you write and navigate your code. Visual Assist\u2019s code inspections function like real-time diagnostics for your codebase. They quietly monitor your work as you write, surfacing potential issues early\u2014just as system sensors in modern machines flag anomalies before they affect performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are generally two types of code inspections:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Notifications<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These checkers catch potential issues and simply alert you to potential issues before they become bugs in production<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Automatic<\/b> <b>Fixes<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many checkers can automatically prompt you to apply fixes to your code with a single action or click.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The checkers alert you based on the severity of the detected issues. This will show up in 5 tiers with different warning levels (colors). You can also customize the severity level for each code issue (see image below).<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4582\" style=\"width: 821px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4582\" data-attachment-id=\"4582\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/visual-assist-2025-4-release-post\/code-inspections\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?fit=1562%2C1197&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1562,1197\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"VA 2025.4 Code inspection C++ safety\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Enable code inspections by going to VAssistX ? Options ? Code Inspection ? Enable code inspection.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?fit=300%2C230&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?fit=1024%2C785&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" wp-image-4582\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?resize=811%2C622&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"811\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?resize=1024%2C785&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?resize=300%2C230&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?resize=768%2C589&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?resize=1536%2C1177&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?resize=360%2C276&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/code-inspections.png?w=1562&amp;ssl=1 1562w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 811px) 100vw, 811px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4582\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Enable code inspections by going to VAssistX &#8211; Options &#8211; Code Inspection &#8211; Enable code inspection.<\/p><\/div>\n<h4><b>Preset options for active inspections<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the same dialog window, users can now <\/span><b>swap between predefined checker sets<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to match their project needs:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>VA Default<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The standard set of Visual Assist checkers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>C++ safety<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The set of new C++ safety focused checkers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Combined (Recommended): <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Combines the default VA code inspections and the new C++ safety checkers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Custom<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Enable\/disable individual checkers as needed<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><b>Full list of new C++ safety checkers<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the complete list of the added code checkers added in VA 2025.4. Some checkers may have more than one name\/category. They will be searchable in the settings dialogue to make it easier to find specific checkers and configure them as you wish.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 887px;\" width=\"475\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Category<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Checkers<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Core Analysis<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CallAndMessage, DivideZero, NonNullParamChecker, NullDereference, UndefinedBinaryOperatorResult, uninitialized.Assign\/Branch\/UndefReturn<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>C++ Specific<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NewDelete, NewDeleteLeaks, Move, SelfAssignment, PureVirtualCall, InnerPointer<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Nullability<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NullableDereferenced, NullablePassedToNonnull, NullPassedToNonnull, NullReturnedFromNonnull<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>CERT Standards<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">err33-c, err58-cpp, dcl54-cpp, msc50-cpp, msc51-cpp, oop54-cpp<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>C++ Core Guidelines<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">no-malloc, pro-type-reinterpret-cast, pro-type-static-cast-downcast, avoid-c-arrays, narrowing-conversions, owning-memory, special-member-functions, init-variables, noexcept-destructor, noexcept-move-operations<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Bug Prevention<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">use-after-move, misplaced-operator-in-strlen-in-alloc, misplaced-pointer-arithmetic-in-alloc, undefined-memory-manipulation, suspicious-memory-comparison, suspicious-memset-usage, suspicious-realloc-usage, shared\/unique-ptr-array-mismatch, stringview-nullptr, integer-division<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Modernization<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">use-nullptr, use-noexcept, use-default-member-init, use-equals-default, avoid-c-arrays<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Performance<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">noexcept-destructor, noexcept-swap, trivially-destructible<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Miscellaneous<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">throw-by-value-catch-by-reference, unused-parameters, new-delete-overloads, non-copyable-objects, static-assert<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Concurrency<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mt-unsafe<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UI overhaul for core navigation and refactoring features<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first thing you\u2019ll notice when you install and start Visual Assist 2025.4 for the first time is that the visual interface for many of your favorite features have changed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The user interface for core navigation and refactoring features have been updated to a more polished, modern look. In regular Visual Assist fashion, it is still designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. At the same time, it\u2019s now more descriptive and distinct enough so you\u2019ll know exactly when you\u2019re using a VA feature or not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For functional changes, we\u2019ve adjusted the action buttons on dialogs to be more descriptive and purposeful. All additional options have also been moved to a categorized settings menu and can be opened quickly using the keyboard shortcut: Alt. These changes should make VA easier to use and have improved consistency of expected actions across its core features.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is the list of the features with updated UI:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open File in Solution<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rename<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find Symbol<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Change Signature<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Browse Members<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_4590\" style=\"width: 627px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4590\" data-attachment-id=\"4590\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/visual-assist-2025-4-release-post\/find-symbol-new-ui\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?fit=1600%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1600,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"find symbol new ui\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;VA 2025.4 updated Find Symbol dialog&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;FIND SYMBOL: Dialog buttons now callout the action and settings moved to a menu.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?fit=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?fit=1024%2C512&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" wp-image-4590\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?resize=617%2C309&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"617\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?resize=1024%2C512&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?resize=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?resize=768%2C384&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?resize=1536%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?resize=360%2C180&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/find-symbol-new-ui.png?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 617px) 100vw, 617px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4590\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FIND SYMBOL: Dialog buttons now callout the action and settings moved to a menu.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Introducing VA Intelligence: Symbol explanation with AI<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019re happy to announce the name of our very own local AI integration: <\/span><b>VA Intelligence. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will be a fully local AI opt-in service powered by Olamma and Gemma.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its first feature is the ability to explain and contextualize symbols in a single click with the help of AI\/LLMs. You can use this to help understand unfamiliar code by analyzing symbols across the entire project and getting a brief description of what it does.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4593\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4593\" data-attachment-id=\"4593\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/visual-assist-2025-4-release-post\/va-explain-symbol\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?fit=1251%2C436&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1251,436\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"VA explain symbol\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;VA intelligence added in 2025.4&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;VA Intelligence&#8217;s explain symbol provides you the context and description of the symbol in the Find References dialog.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?fit=300%2C105&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?fit=1024%2C357&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4593\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?resize=1024%2C357&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"VA intelligence explains symbol via AI\" width=\"1024\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?resize=1024%2C357&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?resize=300%2C105&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?resize=768%2C268&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?resize=360%2C125&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol.png?w=1251&amp;ssl=1 1251w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4593\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">VA Intelligence&#8217;s explain symbol provides you the context and description of the symbol in the Find References dialog.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><b><i>How it works<\/i><\/b><b>:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Select the code or symbol you want to explain, open the quick actions menu (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shift + Alt + Q<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), and choose <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explain \u2018symbol\u2019 with AI.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The explanation of the symbol will be provided in a find references dialog.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4594\" style=\"width: 701px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4594\" data-attachment-id=\"4594\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/visual-assist-2025-4-release-post\/va-explain-symbol-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?fit=1325%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1325,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"VA explain symbol 2\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Visual Assist&#8217;s explain symbol uses AI to describe symbol and references&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Select a symbol and open the quick actions menu (Shift + Alt + Q) or click the tomato icon upon hover then click &#8220;Explain &#8216;symbol&#8217; with AI&#8221;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?fit=300%2C113&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?fit=1024%2C386&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" wp-image-4594\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?resize=691%2C261&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"691\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?resize=1024%2C386&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?resize=300%2C113&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?resize=768%2C289&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?resize=360%2C136&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/VA-explain-symbol-2.png?w=1325&amp;ssl=1 1325w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4594\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Select a symbol and open the quick actions menu (Shift + Alt + Q) or click the tomato icon upon hover then click &#8220;Explain &#8216;symbol&#8217; with AI&#8221;<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For security and safety, it is exclusively an <\/span><b>opt-in<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> feature\u2014you need to explicitly give permission to both install and run the AI. For the complete installation and usage instructions, read the section below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, it is installed and runs entirely on your local machine using your GPU\u2014no data leaves your computer, ensuring your code remains private and secure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Permissions: Navigate to VAssistX &#8211; Options &#8211; VA Intelligence &#8211; Enable Explain with AI + Install\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disk space: At least 9GB of free space<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minimum hardware requirements: GPU with at least 12GB VRAM. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.ollama.com\/gpu\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More details here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For other questions, such as troubleshooting, disabling, and full uninstallation, please refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/support\/aifaq\">VA Intelligence FAQ page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New updated welcome page for new users<\/span><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_4596\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4596\" data-attachment-id=\"4596\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/visual-assist-2025-4-release-post\/welcome-page\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C1655&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1655\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Visual Assist 2025.4 Welcome page\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;A new welcome page provides quick insight into what&#8217;s new in a release, the latest tutorials, and an accessible feedback form.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Visual Assist&#8217;s new welcome page provides quick insight into what&#8217;s new in a release, the latest tutorials, and an accessible feedback form.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?fit=300%2C194&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C662&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4596\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page.png?resize=1024%2C662&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"VA what's new welcome page\" width=\"1024\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=1024%2C662&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=300%2C194&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=768%2C497&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C993&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=2048%2C1324&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=555%2C360&amp;ssl=1 555w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?resize=360%2C233&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Welcome-page-scaled.png?w=2280&amp;ssl=1 2280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4596\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visual Assist&#8217;s new welcome page provides quick insight into what&#8217;s new in a release, the latest tutorials, and an accessible feedback form.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For first time installers and after an update release, a new page will now welcome you to Visual Assist. This page shows what\u2019s new in the release, provides an easy way to explore tutorials, and learn useful shortcuts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also a special feedback widget that you can use to instantly send feedback straight to the dev team\u2019s inbox. You can be as brief (or as comprehensive) as you want with the feedback you sent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As it\u2019s a new feature, we recommend submitting your concerns and feedback through this new widget\u2014it\u2019s more visible and makes it easier to improve for the devteam.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For existing users, you can always bring up the welcome page via VAssistX &#8211; Help &#8211; Show Welcome Page.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bug Fixes and minor improvements<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quality improvements pertaining to Visual Studio 2022 support.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Availability &amp; Feedback<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This release was made available on<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> October 21st<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and can be downloaded via the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/wholetomato.com\/downloads?utm_source=blogpost&amp;utm_medium=referral\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">download page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As always, we appreciate feedback, especially on recently introduced features and the UI changes we introduced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/purchase?utm_source=blogpost&amp;utm_medium=referral\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Update now to an active license <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to utilize all the features and fixes in this release. And if you have any questions or encounter any issues, feel free to reach out to <\/span><a href=\"mailto:support@ewholetomato.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">support@wholetomato.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Visual Assist 2025.4 is now released and is available to download.\u00a0 VA 2025.4 is one of our biggest releases to date. This release features 60+ new code inspections checkers for C++ safety. We also overhauled&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213500340,"featured_media":4581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10673833],"tags":[726360503,726360515,726360341,726360505,726360513,726360511,726360501],"class_list":["post-4580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-build-announcements","tag-c-code-inspections","tag-c-development-tools","tag-c-productivity-tools","tag-c-safety-checkers","tag-c-static-analysis","tag-va-intelligence","tag-visual-assist-2025-4"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/12_WT_Visual-Assist_Whats-New-Banner-Main-Youtube_2048-x-1152.png?fit=2048%2C1152&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpLS4-1bS","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213500340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4580"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4603,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4580\/revisions\/4603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}