Google’s AI code editor enables Android, iOS, and web dev online
Google has taken the wraps off of “Project IDX,” which will provide everything you need for development – including Android and iOS emulators – enhance it with AI, and deliver it to your web browser.
One of the common issues that developers face is that the tech stacks needed to run a particular project can be difficult to set up, and if you perhaps want to switch from your main desktop to a portable laptop for the day, you’d need to ensure the various versions are in sync. Otherwise, you may find some code behaves differently between the two devices.
On top of that, many developers don’t have room in their budgets for a second – or even first – high-powered machine to run projects on. Building a Flutter app and simultaneously running it in an Android emulator can be quite taxing on a computer.
That’s where Google’s latest tool, Project IDX, comes in. Project IDX seamlessly connects a handful of key technologies to make an experience that seems a bit like magic.
First and foremost, Project IDX is based on Code OSS (the open-source version of Microsoft’s VS Code), meaning the editor should feel all too familiar to many developers. Rather than doing any heavy lifting on your own machine, the editor and everything else you may need is run from a Linux VM in the cloud. Google offers ready-to-go templates for projects in frameworks like Flutter, Angular, React, and Next.js, but the Linux VM offers enough freedom to set up almost any tool or tech stack that you may need.
Next, Project IDX integrates live previews of your app as it’s running. For now, this is limited to previewing web apps, but this will soon be expanded with access to an Android emulator and even the iOS