TL;DR
Google’s engineers historically used varied IDEs, leading to fragmentation. Starting around 2013, Google developed Cider, a cloud IDE, which later transitioned to a VSCode-based frontend by 2020. This shift aims to improve productivity and standardize developer tools.
Google has moved from a highly fragmented IDE ecosystem to adopting a unified, cloud-based development environment based on VSCode, aiming to improve developer productivity and reduce tooling complexity.
Historically, Google engineers used various IDEs, which led to fragmentation and duplicated effort in integrating tools like code search, formatting, and build support. In 2011, senior engineers, including Jeff Dean, concluded that standardizing IDEs was impractical due to diverse preferences. Despite this, Google developed internal tooling projects organically, such as a dedicated IntelliJ support team formed around 2015.
Starting around 2013, Google began experimenting with Cider, a web-based cloud IDE designed to handle the company’s large-scale monorepo. Cider gained popularity for its speed and ability to support code search and cross-references across billions of files, especially among Go developers. It relied on a backend indexing system that maintained a comprehensive language graph, updating with every commit.
In 2020, Google shifted its strategy by adopting VSCode as the frontend for Cider, leveraging its mature ecosystem and extensibility. The transition aimed to unify the development experience and support a broader range of features, with a dedicated team working on the integration. By 2021, a beta version was used by approximately 5,000 engineers, with ongoing development to polish the experience and expand support for version control, code review, and extensions.
Why It Matters
This evolution reflects Google’s effort to streamline developer tools at scale, reduce duplicated effort, and foster a more productive coding environment. Moving to a cloud-based IDE built on VSCode could influence how large tech companies approach developer tooling, emphasizing flexibility, collaboration, and scalability.
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Background
Google’s monorepo, known as google3, is one of the largest codebases globally, demanding specialized tooling. For years, engineers used various IDEs, leading to duplicated work and integration challenges. The development of Cider marked a significant step toward cloud-based development, addressing issues caused by the size and complexity of Google’s codebase. The transition to VSCode in 2020 aligns with broader industry trends favoring web-based, extensible IDEs.
“Trying to get a group of developers to all agree on a common editor is a recipe for unhappiness. Everyone has different opinions about what is important here.”
— Anonymous Google engineer
“Switching to VSCode frontend allows us to leverage an existing mature ecosystem and focus on integration at scale.”
— Google tech lead (2020)
cloud IDEs for large codebases
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What Remains Unclear
It is not yet clear how widely adopted the new VSCode-based IDE will become across all Google engineering teams or how it will impact existing workflows long-term.
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What’s Next
Google is expected to continue refining the VSCode-based IDE, expanding support for version control, code review, and extensions. Further integration with internal tools and broader rollout to all engineering teams are anticipated milestones.
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Key Questions
Why did Google initially avoid standardizing on a single IDE?
Senior engineers believed that forcing everyone to use the same IDE would lead to unhappiness, as preferences and priorities varied widely among engineers.
What is Cider, and why was it developed?
Cider is a cloud-based web IDE developed at Google around 2013 to handle the company’s large-scale monorepo, providing fast access, code search, and cross-referencing across billions of files.
What prompted the switch to VSCode in 2020?
The team aimed to leverage VSCode’s mature ecosystem, extensibility, and existing features, which would help unify development tools and improve productivity at scale.
How does this transition impact Google engineers?
The move to a unified, cloud-based IDE aims to streamline workflows, reduce duplicated tooling efforts, and foster collaboration across teams.
