The @ecl Participant in Copilot
The @ecl participant in the ECL Extension for VS Code enhances answers about ECL in several key ways.
How to Use It
In VS Code's Copilot chat window, begin your chat with @ecl. This adds the participant to the conversation.
Note: You must have the ECL extension installed and enabled.
How It Works
Documentation Retrieval — When you ask an ECL question, the participant searches the official HPCC Systems® ECL documentation and retrieves relevant reference material (ECL Language Reference, ECL Programmer's Guide, ECL Standard Library Reference, etc.). This grounds answers in authoritative sources rather than general knowledge.
Tool Access — The participant can use specialized tools to:
- Look up ECL syntax, functions, and keywords from the documentation
- Search and inspect workunits on a connected HPCC Platform
- Search logical files on the cluster
- Syntax-check ECL code you provide
Contextual Awareness — It considers your active editor content and workspace, so answers can be tailored to what you're actually working on.
Why This Produces Better Answers
Without @ecl | With @ecl |
|---|---|
| Generic LLM knowledge (may be outdated or inaccurate) | Grounded in official, current ECL documentation |
| Cannot inspect your cluster | Can query workunits and logical files directly |
| Cannot validate code | Can syntax-check your ECL snippets |
| May fabricate URLs or function signatures | Uses only verified documentation URLs and content |
Example
If you ask about index compression options, the participant retrieves the exact BUILDINDEX documentation entry — including the COMPRESSED option variants (LZW, inplace, lz4, lz4hc, etc.), their syntax, and examples — and builds its answer from that, rather than relying on potentially stale training data.
It also provides links to the relevant topics in the online ECL Language Reference.
In short, @ecl acts as a bridge between the AI and the real ECL ecosystem — documentation, your cluster, and your code — so you get accurate, actionable answers.
See also: Why @workspace matters in Copilot Chat.