Browser-based IDE: Google's Project IDX now available in public beta

After launching Project IDX as a closed beta in August 2023, Google is now releasing the browser-based IDE as an open beta. All you need to develop web and cross-platform apps for Android and iOS with Project IDX is a Google account. Those who also sign up to the Google Developer Program can create up to 5 workspaces in IDX and use Google's Gemini AI model in the web-based IDE.

The Project IDX user interface is based on the open source part of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code ("Code OSS"), so anyone who has worked with VS Code will find Google's browser-based IDE instantly familiar. For web applications, Project IDX offers a choice of popular frameworks such as Angular, Next.js, React or Vue, while anyone wanting to develop a cross-platform application for iOS and Android is currently limited to Google's own Flutter framework.

JavaScript, Python, Dart and Go are available as programming languages, and you can also build .NET apps in C# and terminal apps with Rust. Google's own Flutter framework, currently in version 3.22, is used for cross-platform mobile applications; the Project IDX interface includes an Android emulator and a preview for web applications. The iOS simulator from the closed beta phase is no longer available in the public beta, but will be back at a later date.

Google's Gemini AI model is now firmly integrated into Project IDX, offering AI-assisted code completion, chat and contextual code actions such as automatically adding comments or explaining code. A full overview of the Project IDX web-based integrated development environment can be found in Google's blog post.