My open source command line tool aider [0] is specifically for this use case of working with GPT on an existing code base.
Let me know if you have a chance to try it out.
Here is a chat transcript [1] that illustrates how you can use aider to explore an existing git repo, understand it and then make changes. As another example I needed a new feature in the glow tool and was able to make a PR [2] for it, even though I don't know anything about that codebase or even how to write golang.
This is an instance of the dangers of LLM. Because you (self-admittedly) know nothing about the language or codebase, you have no idea the semantically correct way to do things, so if GPT tells you to metaphorically jump off a cliff, you won’t know that it isn’t the right thing to do.
That certainly could be a concern. You are right, it’s important to review the code written by LLMs.
Did you look at the PR?
I reviewed it before submitting it. While I would have struggled to write it myself, I was able to review it and conclude that it was sensible and unlikely to be risky.
Of course it could have bugs that I missed. But so could any code I write myself in any language.
Let me know if you have a chance to try it out.
Here is a chat transcript [1] that illustrates how you can use aider to explore an existing git repo, understand it and then make changes. As another example I needed a new feature in the glow tool and was able to make a PR [2] for it, even though I don't know anything about that codebase or even how to write golang.
[0] https://github.com/paul-gauthier/aider
[1] https://aider.chat/examples/2048-game.html
[2] https://github.com/charmbracelet/glow/pull/502