Google recently released its own code editor, Antigravity. Based on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code, Antigravity brings a lot to the table. I’ve been using it for the past few weeks, and here’s why I think it should be your IDE of choice.
Previously, I used VS Code exclusively to write my code
Microsoft’s IDE used to be my favorite.
About 15 years ago, when I was getting started in development, I lived in the terminal. VI was my life and I knew nothing else. These days, I do spend quite a bit of time in a terminal with nano, but when it comes to writing proper code, I preferred VS Code because it was simpler, had autocomplete, and I liked the syntax highlighting better—plus I could just click somewhere in the code, and it would move the cursor, unlike nano.
Another thing I liked about VS Code was the native code revision and GitHub integration, as well as all the extensions that it offers. Being able to use one editor for everything, and have the editor handle all my code revisions was extremely nice. My experience with VS Code has been nothing but good, and I had no real reason to leave—until Google launched Antigravity.
Why I decided to give Antigravity a try
How good could Google’s clone of VS Code actually be?
A day or so after Antigravity was released, I decided to download it and give it a try. I was actually surprised how at home I felt in Antigravity. This is likely due to it being based on Visual Studio, but it’s definitely more “inspired by” than carbon copy.
While I felt at home in Antigravity, there was definitely something very different—the presence of Google’s tools. Antigravity instantly won me over with the integration of tools like Gemini, Claude Sonnet, and other AI tools with their custom instruction sets. The way that Antigravity works is just so vastly different from VS Code that I loved it, yet it was still eerily similar.
Since Antigravity is a fork of VS Code, there’s no reason for me to go back
I couldn’t believe how much I fell in love with Antigravity.
Since Antigravity is a fork of VS Code, just about every existing VS Code extension works with it, and that’s a huge bonus to me. Existing documentation or tutorials for VS Code are almost copy and paste, and I was able to learn my way around it pretty quick.
This familiarity and functionality is what’s going to keep me in Antigravity over VS Code these days. I’m currently in the process of porting all of my custom settings and stuff from VS Code to Antigravity, so while I haven’t fully switched, just about all of my new projects are being done in Antigravity these days.
Really, I have no reason to go back to VS Code instead of Antigravity. The AI tools are far superior in Antigravity compared to VS Code, and it still works with all the old plugins. What’s not to like?
Just earlier today, I spent about 45 minutes of active time with Antigravity and built a fully functional budget app for my iPhone. I created the initial project in Xcode, and then the rest of the app was built purely with Gemini and Antigravity—I know zero Swift whatsoever.
There’s no other tool that I have ever used which could go from zero to fully functional app, basically ready to release to the public baring a few minor tweaks, in under an hour.
Add to that, I still get all the same VS Code capabilities, like remote development on my server, extensions like PlatformIO for building microcontroller projects, and the plethora of other plugins available and Google has a clear winner on their hands.
With Google having just raised its rate limits for those on the AI Pro or Ultra plans, Antigravity is now even more useful for me. I have Google AI Pro already, as I need the 2TB of Drive storage space and I use Gemini 3.0 Pro Thinking very heavily throughout the day already.
So, Antigravity is here to stay for me, and I think you’ll like it just as much if you give it a try.
I’m just starting to get back into programming, and I’m glad I waited as long as I did. The AI tools that are out now are super helpful with getting back into the hobby after so many years of not doing it. Development is easier, debugging is simpler, and it’s just more fun than it used to be for me.
I have so many ideas of apps that I want to make with Antigravity that I’m only just scratching the surface, and I can’t wait to see what I can partner with AI to build next.
