For the longest time, Microsoft’s VS Code has been one of the most popular IDEs (Integrated Developer Environment) on the market. It’s free to use and includes all the features developers need to get the job done.
Microsoft might have been shaking in its boots when Google revealed Project IDX, which was eventually rebranded as Firebase Studio.
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Firebase Studio is a full-stack (both front-end and back-end) AI workspace that aims to accelerate your development projects. Firebase Studio is web-based, so it can be used in any web browser. This new agentic IDE also allows you to import existing repositories from the likes of GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or even your local machine.
Firebase Studio vs. VS Code
As far as this tool vs. VS Code is concerned, Firebase Studio gets the win because of the agentic AI and the prototyping tool, which makes it exponentially easier to create, debug, and deploy. On top of that, where VS Code takes serious system resources, Firebase Studio does everything in the cloud, so you can keep working while it does its thing.
The most impressive thing about Firebase Studio is the App Prototyping agent, which allows you to create an app using AI prompts. The AI even goes so far as to take your query and improve it to ensure you get the best results.
Firebase Studio makes it easy to build apps from an AI prompt.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Firebase Studio is a serious game-changer. I put it through the paces to create a Kanban board app as a test, and was shocked at how good even the first attempt was. Using the Protoypting agent, I instructed Firebase Studio to create a Kanban board app that integrates with Google Calendar. Based on my initial query, Firebase Studio improved my human-readable input to make it much more specific and usable (hint: the more specific you can be, the better).
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It was fascinating to watch Firebase Studio do its thing. After a few minutes, my Kanban board app appeared, and I could immediately start testing it or even share the app to be tested on mobile devices.
Firebase Studio is ready to prototype my app.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
All the while, as Firebase Studio churned away at building my Kanban board app, my computer didn’t so much as blink. Why? Because everything happens in the cloud, your system resources aren’t touched. As Firebase Studio built my app, I pondered how it would have taken my System76 Thelio down as it chewed up every bit of RAM and CPU the machine had to offer.
Not so with this cloud-based, agentic IDE.
Once your app is complete, you can push it to your Git repository and then pull it to your local machine for further development.
What does it cost?
At the moment, Firebase Studio is free to use. The only cost you will incur is if you opt to publish your app via the service. You can even have Firebase Studio generate a free Gemini API (which is required for the Prototyping agent.
As far as the details on what you can use for free, you get free access to its core features, such as the AI-powered IDE, up to 3 workspaces (members of the Google Developer Program get up to 30). You can also use the free Gemini API, as long as you don’t exceed the free usage tiers (at which point you will incur a cost).
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If you want to publish your app, you will have to have a Cloud Billing account, the cost of which depends on usage. You can find out more about Firebase Studio pricing here.
Any developer who is interested in adding AI into their workflow would be remiss if they didn’t at least test-drive Firebase Studio. This service is not only incredibly impressive, but it’s easy to use.
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