Code quality testing startup SonarSource SA said today it has acquired AutoCodeRover, the creator of an autonomous artificial intelligence platform for software developers.

According to Sonar, the deal will enable its customers to automate tasks such as debugging and issue remediation, so they can spend more time on improving their applications rather than fixing them.

AutoCodeRover has built a large language model-based AI agent that’s able to autonomously fix problematic code. It has shown some impressive results on the SWE-bench benchmark, which tests the ability of computer systems to remediate software bugs.

AI agents are sophisticated AI programs that can perform complex tasks without any human intervention. AutoCodeRover can work out how to fix bugs by inferring developer intent from various artifacts in open-source software projects.

Sonar explained that AutoCodeRover combines the capabilities of various powerful LLMs, including OpenAI’s GPT models and Google LLCs’ Gemini series, with code search and reasoning capabilities developed by researchers at the National University of Singapore. This allows it to become an active participant in the software development lifecycle.

The next step will be for Sonar to integrate AutoCodeRover with its SonarQube suite of generative AI-powered coding tools. The company says the integration will help it to automate key maintenance tasks in the software development process and continuously improve code quality by expediting reviews, not just to detect issues but also to remediate them instantly. That will enable developers to become more agile and accelerate the delivery of new applications and updates, it says.

Besides improving their speed, developer teams will also benefit from lower costs, as AutoCodeRover will be able to handle many of the most laborious coding tasks autonomously, freeing them up to focus their energies on creating innovative new software features.

Sonar Chief Executive Tariq Shaukat said AI agents are powerful tools that can help developers to build better software much faster than before.

“Studies estimate that developers spend almost half of their time fixing bugs, addressing technical debt and on other work that doesn’t help create the future,” Shaukat said. “This leads to lower developer productivity and happiness. Agentic AI working side-by-side with developers will help them build better, faster and spend more time on writing code, creating new products, innovating and driving impact.”

Sonar also committed to collaborating with the Trustworthy and Secure Software Research Group at NUS to continue improving agentic AI technology.

Today’s deal is Sonar’s second major acquisition, coming just two months after it bought a startup called Tidelift Inc., which sells tools for managing open-source software components.

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