I would suggest going with OpenAI ChatGPT Plus instead of GitHub Copilot Individual if clean code is your priority. Copilot is fast, but you have to be careful cuz it frequently suggests bloated loops and redundant logic. ChatGPT handles refactoring and optimizing Python much better. Just make sure to double-check its output for recursion depth limits. Let me know if you want me to look at the code with you!

> I've been researching tools and so my logic was to just pay for Github Copilot since it fits right into VS Code. Late to the party here, but if your priority is truly clean and efficient Python, I've found that Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet Professional is the most reliable option right now. I've been using it for several months and the logic it generates is consistently more sophisticated than its competitors. It avoids the bloated loops and redundant logic that plague other tools. One quick tip for your freelance project: always verify the security and reliability of the output. AI can sometimes suggest outdated libraries or insecure patterns. I recommend running everything through Charliermarsh Ruff Python Linter once the AI finishes its refactor. It's a fast way to ensure your code meets professional standards before you hand it off to a client. Claude works well for the heavy lifting, but human oversight on safety is still essential.

Did this last week, worked perfectly

Honestly, if you're on a tight budget and need clean code, just use Cursor. It's basically a fork of VS Code so the transition is zero effort, and you can plug in the API key for OpenAI GPT-4o or Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet directly. This way you arent paying for a full monthly subscription if you dont want to, just pay-as-you-go based on your usage. Just be careful with the autocomplete features because even the best models can hallucinate imports or use deprecated libraries if you arent careful. I personally stick to Cursor IDE because it lets me highlight specific chunks of code and ask for refactors without copy-pasting into a browser window. It saves a ton of time. Just make sure to run a solid linter like Astral Ruff alongside it to catch any weird syntax or performance bottlenecks before you hand the script over to your client.

Wait, what kind of script are we talking about? Is it data heavy automation or just a scraper? Tbh I once tried letting an AI tool refactor my logic and it was a total disaster...

• it turned my clean generators into messy lists
• crashed my system with memory leaks
• wasted four hours of my life Be careful relying on just AI... you might want to consider running a separate linter too.

No way, I literally just dealt with this yesterday. Small world.