HAnS-FeatRacer: An IDE Plugin for Recommending Embedded Feature Annotations

Paper i proceeding, 2027

Features are the focal point of software development processes, but they are often not explicitly documented in source code, which makes it difficult to maintain or evolve them. While existing tools support developers in recording feature locations by embedding feature annotations directly in source code, developers may still forget to annotate features during implementation. We present HAnS-FeatRacer, an IntelliJ IDE-plugin that reminds developers about missing annotations by providing recommendations for embedded feature annotations using a machine learning classifier. As an extension to HAnS, HAnS-FeatRacer allows developers to review, revise, and apply recommendations directly in the IDE after committing code changes. We conducted a usability study with 14 participants, which demonstrated that our plugin HAnS-FeatRacer is usable and helpful in maintaining feature traceability. A demo video is available at https://youtu.be/E8SpSb6jHSk.