IDEs Are Dead — Here's What Replaces Them
Six months from now, nobody will be arguing about Cursor vs Windsurf vs whatever VS Code fork ships next week.
Because the entire category is dying.
This isn’t speculation. It’s already happening. The signals are everywhere if you’re paying attention.
The IDE Was Built for Typing
Think about what an IDE actually does:
- Syntax highlighting (so you can read code faster)
- Autocomplete (so you can type code faster)
- Error highlighting (so you can catch mistakes as you type)
- File navigation (so you can find where to type next)
- Debugging tools (so you can step through code you wrote)
Every feature, every UI decision, every keyboard shortcut — all designed around one assumption: a human is typing code into a text buffer.
That assumption made sense for 40 years.
It doesn’t make sense anymore.
The New Reality
I haven’t opened an IDE’s main editor panel in weeks. I work from the terminal, from Slack, from GitHub comments. I describe what I want, and AI agents build it.
The “editor” isn’t where work happens anymore. It’s where I review what the AI built, if I review it at all. More often, I validate through tests, specs, and behavior — not by reading code.
Here’s what a typical session looks like:
- I write a spec document describing the feature
- I spin up a Claude Code agent in a worktree
- The agent reads my codebase, understands the patterns, builds the feature
- Tests run automatically
- If tests pass, I review the diff (often just skimming)
- PR goes up
The IDE? I might open it to poke around if something’s weird. But it’s a backup tool now. Not the primary interface.
What’s Actually Replacing IDEs
The replacement isn’t another IDE. It’s not even another app.
It’s a layer of interfaces that let you talk to AI agents wherever you are:
Terminal-based agents (Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Aider) The terminal never went away. It just got a lot more powerful when you could have full conversations with an AI that understands your entire codebase.
Chat-embedded agents (Claude in Slack, GitHub Copilot in PRs) Anthropic shipped Claude Code for Slack this week. You can discuss a bug in a thread, tag the agent, and it investigates, proposes a fix, opens a PR — without anyone leaving the chat.
Repository-native agents (GitHub agents, PR bots) The agent lives in the repo. Someone opens an issue, the agent investigates. A PR needs review, the agent reviews it. No IDE required.
Voice and mobile interfaces I do rough planning by voice these days. Speak the spec, the agent transcribes, I review on my phone, work gets queued. Actual “coding” happens while I’m walking the dog.
The pattern: the AI meets you where you are. The IDE forced you to go to it.
Why IDE-Based AI Tools Are a Transitional Step
Cursor, Windsurf, all the VS Code forks with AI bolted on — they’re useful right now. But they’re transitional.
They’re built on a contradiction: “Here’s a tool designed for humans typing code, but we added AI so you don’t have to type code.”
The interface fights itself. You have a text editor taking up most of the screen, but your primary interaction is a chat panel. You have keyboard shortcuts for editing text, but the text is being written by AI. You have syntax highlighting for reading code, but you’re reading less code than ever.
These tools are better than plain VS Code. But they’re not the end state.
The end state is: the AI interface is primary, and the code view is secondary. You spend most of your time in specs, conversations, reviews — not editors.
What I Use Now
My current stack (this will probably change in six months, that’s the point):
Claude Code — Terminal-first, full codebase understanding. This is my primary interface. I spin up multiple instances in parallel worktrees.
Slack/GitHub integration — Remote agents that run async. I @mention them and they do work in the background.
Custom orchestration — I built systems that let me trigger workflows from anywhere. Describe work in one place, agents execute everywhere.
Zed — For when I need to manually poke at something. Maybe 10% of my time now. Shrinking.
(Yes, I’m still bullish on Claude Code specifically. But the principle applies regardless of which agent wins.)
The Skills That Transfer
If you’re worried about your IDE skills becoming useless — some will, some won’t.
What stays relevant:
- Understanding code at a system level
- Knowing what patterns work and why
- Debugging skills (you’ll still debug, just differently)
- Git workflows
- Testing strategies
What’s becoming less relevant:
- Typing speed
- Memorized syntax
- IDE keyboard shortcuts
- Plugin ecosystems
- Manual code navigation
The theme: thinking about code stays relevant. Physically manipulating code becomes less relevant.
The Uncomfortable Prediction
By end of 2026, I believe:
- The “AI coding tool” category will consolidate heavily
- Most developers won’t have a “primary IDE” the way they do now
- Multi-agent, multi-interface workflows will be standard
- “I write my own code” will sound as dated as “I manage my own servers”
The IDE isn’t dead today. But the trajectory is clear.
If you’re still investing heavily in IDE-specific workflows, you might be optimizing for a shrinking world. The developers who’ll thrive are building skills that work across interfaces — context engineering, spec writing, agent orchestration.
The tool you use to talk to AI matters less than how well you talk to it.
What To Do About It
Practical steps if you buy this thesis:
1. Start using terminal-based agents Get comfortable working outside the IDE. Claude Code, Gemini CLI, whatever. The point is breaking the IDE dependency.
2. Experiment with async/remote agents Set up a system where AI can do work while you’re not watching. GitHub bots, Slack integrations, whatever. Get used to reviewing results, not watching keystrokes.
3. Invest in context over config Instead of perfecting your VS Code setup, perfect your CLAUDE.md. Instead of learning more keyboard shortcuts, learn to write better specs. The context travels with you across tools.
4. Accept that your setup will change Don’t get attached. The tools are moving fast. The best thing you can learn is how to learn new tools quickly.
The IDE was a good run. 40+ years of dominance.
But the future is agents, interfaces, and orchestration. The code editor is just one view into that system — and increasingly, not even the most important one.