---
title: "The story behind iolys | From iolite to AI in Visual Studio"
description: "Discover the iolite inspiration behind iolys: a guide through a changing AI world, with Visual Studio as your familiar workspace and freedom to choose your provider."
url: "https://getiolys.com/our-story"
language: "en"
updated: "2026-09-22"
---

# Find your bearings in a changing AI world.

AI moves fast. Your workspace can remain familiar. iolys helps you explore models and providers while keeping your code, your tools, and your workflow in Visual Studio.

## A name inspired by iolite

The name iolys takes its inspiration from iolite, a blue-violet stone associated with the story of the Viking sunstone. The idea is compelling: a stone that could help a navigator find the sun, even when clouds obscured it. Whether Vikings actually used iolite this way remains uncertain. For iolys, that image of finding a direction is the inspiration.

## A guide through the AI chaos

New models, new providers, new ways to work: the choices keep multiplying. iolys brings them into a familiar workspace so you can focus on what you want to build. Like the stone that inspired its name, it is a point of reference when the landscape is hard to read.

## Your bearings stay in Visual Studio

Your solution, editor, debugger, and everyday C# and .NET workflow stay in Visual Studio 2026. You can change the AI you work with without changing your development environment. That continuity is the idea behind iolys: let AI evolve around a workspace you already know.

## Choose your provider. Keep your course.

Use the supported provider and model that fit the task: an eligible subscription, a cloud API, an enterprise connection, or a local model. iolys gives you a common place to work with those choices, with visible tool activity and permission controls. Let iolys guide you through the options. You decide the direction.

About the inspiration: [research on the Viking sunstone hypothesis](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4736922/).

## Related pages

- [Bring Your Own AI Subscription to Visual Studio 2026 | iolys](https://getiolys.com/)
- [Bring Your Own Model (BYOM) in Visual Studio 2026 | iolys](https://getiolys.com/byom)
- [AI coding agent capabilities for Visual Studio | iolys](https://getiolys.com/capabilities)
- [Visual Studio integrations for C# and .NET | iolys](https://getiolys.com/integrations)
- [GitHub Copilot alternative for Visual Studio and C# | iolys](https://getiolys.com/copilot-alternative-visual-studio)
- [AI providers and BYOS for Visual Studio 2026 | iolys](https://getiolys.com/providers)
- [What is iolys? AI coding agent harness for Visual Studio | iolys](https://getiolys.com/what-is-iolys)
- [Install iolys from the Visual Studio Marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=iolys.iolys-visual-studio)
- [iolys blog](https://getiolys.com/blog)