In this video, Brian Castle shares his first impressions and hands-on experience with Google’s new AI-powered IDE called Anti-gravity. Initially, he was genuinely intrigued by some of the innovative ideas presented in the demos, such as managing multiple projects with multiple agents from a single centralized window and an automated review process that records screencasts to verify the agents’ work. However, after spending time using the product, he found it to be quite dysfunctional and rough around the edges, which was surprising given Google’s reputation. Despite the issues, he acknowledges the team’s effort and the potential in some of the concepts introduced.

Brian explains that Anti-gravity is a fork of VS Code, allowing users to import their existing settings, key bindings, and extensions, which is a helpful feature for those transitioning from other VS Code-based editors like Cursor. The IDE has two main views: the traditional editor view and the agent manager view. He feels the agent manager is where Google is trying to innovate by centralizing multiple workspaces and agents, but he wishes these views were better integrated into a single window for smoother workflow. The concept of a playground for quickly spinning up temporary projects without the overhead of creating full repositories is another feature he finds appealing.

Despite these promising ideas, Brian encountered numerous usability issues. For example, he was unable to open a terminal in the agent manager view unless an agent conversation was active, which disrupted his typical workflow. The interface also had confusing elements, such as hidden prompts requiring user input that were not clearly indicated, and the system sometimes proceeded with tasks without explicit user approval. Additionally, the AI models available were limited compared to other platforms, and the token usage limits were quickly reached, further hampering productivity.

Brian also highlights some unique features like the artifacts sidebar, which separates planning documents, review media, and file changes from the main file explorer. He appreciates this visual separation as it helps organize different aspects of the development process, something he wishes other AI IDEs like Cursor would adopt. However, the overall experience was marred by slow response times, bugs, and incomplete implementations, such as the failure of the automated review process to properly test and record the demo app’s functionality.

In conclusion, while Google Anti-gravity introduces several innovative ideas that could push forward the concept of an agentic IDE, its current execution leaves much to be desired. Brian hopes Google will address the bugs and usability issues to make it a viable tool in the future. For now, he recommends developers looking for a functional AI-first code editor to consider Cursor 2.0, which he finds to be a more polished and practical solution. He encourages viewers to share their thoughts and stay tuned for more AI development insights on his channel.