Everything CodeGrade Shipped in Q2 2026

Between April and June 2026, CodeGrade shipped 14 releases: four new features, three improvements, two AutoTest environment updates, and five fixes. This post covers all of them, grouped by what they change for you, with the tier noted where it matters.

Getting into CodeGrade is simpler

The biggest change of the quarter shipped on April 14: a redesigned login and course enrollment flow.

You can now sign in with just your email address. CodeGrade sends a one-time code. Enter it, and you are in. Passwords still work. SSO and institutional identity providers still work. The code is a new option, not a replacement.

Enrollment changed too. You generate one link for your course. A student who clicks it creates an account and joins the course in a single step. Before, those were two separate steps, and the gap between them generated support email. New users who self-register with an institutional email are routed to the right institution automatically.

For IT admins, June 24 added a related control: time-limited direct login. Users can sign in to CodeGrade directly for a configurable window after their most recent launch from Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, or Brightspace. The default is 90 days. After that, a fresh LMS launch is required. It is a middle ground between forcing an LMS launch every time and granting permanent standalone access.

AutoTest setup got faster

Three releases target the setup phase, where most configuration time goes.

Since May 11, AutoTest v2 can generate a test submission for you. If your configuration includes Quiz or Jupyter Notebook steps, one click produces a submission built from your current setup, using the correct answers for multiple choice and select-all questions and your existing notebook template. You tweak it into a fully passing submission instead of reverse-engineering one from scratch. This matters because template files for these steps are modified behind the scenes, so re-uploading them as a student submission used to produce cryptic errors. Note the tier: Quizzes and Jupyter Notebook support are part of the Advanced plan.

The AutoTest environment also moved forward in June. Ubuntu 26.04 is now available as a base OS alongside 20.04 and 24.04, with newer toolchains including Clang 17 and current .NET versions. Python 3.14 is available as a selectable interpreter and is the default for new configurations. Existing setups keep their selected versions unchanged. The configuration editor shows which language versions are available on each OS, so a setup is validated before it runs.

The AI assistant now reads the student's actual work

Since June 5, the AI assistant can read and reason about a student's actual work: their code, files, quiz answers, notebooks, and the assignment description. Its feedback is grounded in what the student is doing, not generic advice.

You stay in control. You enable this per assistant in the assistant editor, so you choose which assistants get the deeper context. The assistant only ever sees what the student can see.

The AI assistant is part of the AI add-on, priced at $15 per student per course on top of the Advanced plan.

Exam sessions recover more gracefully

Two June releases remove friction from locked-down exams.

A student who launches an assignment while an earlier locked-down exam session is still active now gets a clear prompt to end that session and continue. One click, no generic error, no support ticket.

Students taking exams that span multiple password-protected parts no longer hit save or feedback problems when moving between parts in the same browser tab. The editor's live connection refreshes automatically, so saving and live AutoTest feedback keep working.

Smaller fixes that remove daily friction

The rest of the quarter's releases, briefly:

• Binary files open in the code editor (April 2). A read-only viewer shows images and PDFs inside the editor. No downloading, no external tools.
• Clearer free-tier limits (May 5). Free courses show current student and teacher counts, and you get a specific prompt before an action would exceed the 50-student limit, whether adding members one by one, in bulk, or through self-registration.
• Clearer errors when copying assignments (April 21). Copying an assignment that uses features beyond the target course's tier now explains exactly what blocked the copy, instead of "Something went wrong."
• Clearer feedback when copying AutoTest steps (June 9). If the clipboard is restricted, for example in certain embedded LMS views, the editor warns you instead of appearing to succeed.
• AutoTest output files open reliably (April 9 and April 16). Generated output files no longer fail with "file not found," and renaming a file in the AutoTest v2 Upload Step no longer closes the editor with unsaved changes.

What didn't change

The free tier still covers the autograder, code editor, plagiarism detection, inline feedback, manual grading, peer feedback, and code exams, for courses up to 50 students. LMS integration, Quizzes, and Jupyter Notebook support remain on the Advanced plan. The AI assistant remains part of the AI add-on.

Exam mode still locks the CodeGrade session, not the browser. For full browser lockdown, CodeGrade integrates with proctoring tools like Lockdown Browser.

Existing accounts, passwords, courses, and LMS integrations were not affected by the login redesign. Passwords are silently upgraded to a stronger hashing algorithm on the next sign-in.

Try it

Every release above is live now. If you have not used CodeGrade yet, the fall semester is the moment to set it up.

Start free. Free for courses up to 50 students. No trial, no expiration.

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