Project IDX (provisional name) is a new advanced development environment, developed by Google, with the aim of becoming a cloud development environment designed, above all, for Full-Stack developers. This way they will be able to create programs, services and web applications from a single place, with everything they need loaded directly into the Google cloud.
This IDE is prepared for program using any language, and integrates most of the frameworks so that we can use the one we want in our projects. As for debugging and optimization, it comes prepared to debug web code running on a server, as well as Android and iOS applications. Of course, Artificial Intelligence is one of the star features of this IDE, with Gemini being its main protagonist.
At the moment, Project IDX is in development, so in order to try it we must sign up for a fairly long waiting list. But I have already managed to access the preliminary version of this IDE. And I’m going to tell you my experience.
This is Project IDX
From the moment we joined this new Google project we realized that Google is going to try, by all means, for us to use Artificial Intelligence to program. To do this, the first time we enter, it will ask us if we want to enable the AI functions, which will allow us to complete code by writing, generate code from scratch in any language, and even modify the code directly from the lines.
Once inside, we can start creating our project. We can import a project directly from GitHub, or start from scratch with one of the templates that are predefined in this new IDE.
We have accessed the complete list of templates, and we have chosen, within the “miscellaneous” section, the option to create a blank project. In addition, we have looked at all the languages in which we can create our apps and platforms, and although it is true that there is variety, we have missed some templates. Project IDX, for the moment, is very focused on web development, both backend and frontend. But if what you want is to create a script, for example, in pure Python, in C, or in other more rudimentary languages, you will not be able to (at least, from these templates).
Once the new project is created, we find a text editor very (but VERY) similar to vscode.
We can see on one side the directory tree of our project, and then several columns where we will have, for example, the code that we are writing and the Gemini chat.
We can make requests to Gemini directly from the code itself, so that it can auto-complete it, or ask questions in the chat that appears in the other window.
As we can see, a very simple example of what we can do with AI. But there has been one thing that has caught our attention even more. Not long ago we indicated that it was missing templates for other languages. But, when we create a blank project, a world of possibilities opens up for everyone. And we can install the Visual Studio Code extensions to be able to use the IDE to program in any language that we want
In this way, we can install the extensions that we want, or need, depending on the programming language that we are going to use to be able to create our project directly from Project IDX. Even if we leave the predefined templates, we will have access to Gemini and all the functions of this IDE, such as the debugger.
In addition, we will also have many other options that we can find in this type of programming software: themes, keyboard shortcuts and a long list of settings and configurations to adapt it to everyone’s needs.
Personal opinion
Of course, Google is doing a great job. Project IDX is, basically, that: a VScode in the cloudmanaged by Google, with a series of additions to make programming much easier, such as Gemini AI.
At the moment, this IDE is free, and although we have to wait to try it, the waiting lists should speed up soon. But let’s not think that it will always be free, since Google has a gold mine in its hands right now that, without a doubt, is going to explode. When the beta is over we will be able to find out the price of this cloud programming IDE, as well as the different modalities to which we can subscribe (without going any further, there will have to be one with Gemini Pro).