(Photo by Vija Rindo Pratama)
Here at RestlessIDE HQ, we are never shy about tooting our own horn. Somebody’s got to do it, right? You can’t become the best web-based development environment by sitting in the corner politely.
But it’s one thing to tell, and another to show. Here are 10 (or so) things we think you’ll love about RestlessIDE.
1. It’s VS Code, in the browser.
We use the brilliant OpenVSCode Server from Gitpod.io to power our editor workspaces. This project pulls directly from Microsoft’s VS Code repository and makes it work within a container, accessed via a web browser. Everything will immediately feel familiar to you because it’s what you’ve been coding in for the last decade.
2. We don’t limit your VM usage.
We know the grind and we respect it. We don’t put limits around the usage of your workspaces or charge you extra for working more. If you want to pull 60 hour weeks, RestlessiDE will be right there with you. If we had arms, we’d bring you coffee and maybe a little shoulder rub. We’re just a website though.
3. Built-in dev sites.
Every workspace can have up to two different ports open to the outside world. If you’re working on a website, you can publish to port 3000 or 3030 inside your workspace and then access your dev site from that port to see your work in real time. We provision SSL certificates for web sites automatically, so you can publish straight HTTP and you’ll still be HTTPS. You can also open raw TCP ports if you’re working on something that isn’t meant for the web.
4. KeepAlive Workspaces.
KeepAlive workspaces let you keep your workspaces alive (um) even when you aren’t currently using them. Think about it. You’re hacking away on some website update for your client, and you want to show them, but they’re 3 timezones away. You send them your dev URL but they might not look at it in the next 30 minutes. What to do? KeepAlive workspaces to the rescue. Flip the switch on your Workspace page from within RestlessIDE and we won’t shut the workspace down after 30 minutes.
Each account can support one KeepAlive workspace at a time on our shared hosts. If you get your own host, you can designate any workspace on there as KeepAlive. We actually use 4 KeepAlive workspaces for our own dev site, they’re awesome.
5. We have AI!
It’s hard to be a programmer today without taking advantage of artificial intelligence. Although we’re stodgy graybeards at heart (get off our lawn!) we have been known to use some AI assistance on occasion.
RestlessIDE uses VS Code at heart (thanks to Gitpod.io’s OpenVSCode Server) and can subsequently use a variety of AI plugins built for that platform. While we haven’t tried them all, most that connect to external APIs should work out of the box. Pictured below is Kilo Code, a promising new open source plugin that lets you access your favorite models (including Gemini 2.5 Pro, Claude 4 Sonnet & Opus, and GPT-4.1) through various modes to build your apps.
6. Configure once, run whenever.
How many times have you gone back to a particular project only to find it was in Node 8 or relied on some old library that choked on anything over Python 2.7? With RestlessIDE, you can set up your workspace specifically for each project, and then, once you’re done with it, just turn it off. It just sits there, in the background, waiting for the day when you need it again. When that client calls you can just start it up again and be back in business.
Incidentally, this also cuts down a lot on the configuration needed when you get a new computer. Just point your browser to https://app.restlesside.com and you’re productive right away.
7. Build out your infrastructure with Hosts.
When you’re ready to graduate to RestlessIDE Power User status, you can get a Host or two (or more). Hosts are virtual machines that you can stuff full of additional workspaces and services (more on those below!) for your entire team. Each of these VMs can have CPU, memory, disk space and GPU specs tailored to your organization’s unique needs.
Adding a Host to your account opens up the world of Services, which we’re going into more below. They start at $15 for 1 Core/2GB RAM/50GB Disk and go up linearly from there!
8. We work in heterogeneous environments.
Just because you see the light and realize that all development should be done inside a web browser doesn’t mean that Linus over on the backend team feels the same way. He has a Threadripper under his desk and gosh darn it, he wants to use it.
We support that! Different strokes for different folks.
All of the databases and other resources you set up on your Hosts are accessible outside of RestlessIDE, so you and Linus can still work in a common environment.
9. Our Hosts can have GPUs.
Some modern workloads such as Artificial Intelligence and Crypto require workspaces with GPUs. If you fall into that camp, we have your back!
We currently support 3 different nVidia A16 configurations, and can access others if it turns out customers want them. Once you get a GPU Host you can add workspaces to it just like any other, and they will get access to the GPU.
10. Our Dev Databases come with GUIs.
One of the more useful services we offer are free dev instances for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, and Memcache that you can install on your Hosts. These are tools people often need to set up for their team and we make it a few quick clicks.
More than that, we also provide them with web-based GUIs! No more scrambling for a local solution and trying to figure out how to authenticate to even get started. You can jump in right away, set up your instance, preload your data, or whatever else you need. You can also see if your caches are being hit via their web UIs.
11. Remote Desktops
As great as the web is for many things, there are certain tasks that just require an actual desktop. For example, over the years I’ve done a lot of work with WordPress sites that require SFTP to push files and debug things. I have yet to see a good web version of an SFTP client. We also use desktops for building Podman images and pushing them where then need to go.
We have four different desktop environments to choose from, and your desktop is always private just to you. (For security reasons, we require each desktop be assigned to an individual user on your account to ensure privacy when using Password Managers and the like.)
12. Zulip Chat
Team chat has changed the way we communicate at work. The modern workplace can feature collaborators from time zones (or even oceans) away, and having a solid chat solution to share ideas, solutions, and even memes and jokes is critical. It’s the modern water cooler and meeting room, all in one.
RestlessIDE allows for a quick install of Zulip team chat on your Host. Zulip is an open-source application that contains all of the features you know and love from Slack or Teams (or maybe not Teams?) but in a self-hosted environment. You can access it remotely using their mobile apps while keeping your data on your Host. It even has video meetings with Zoom integration if you are a customer.
13. OpenProject
One of the hardest parts of working on a software team is keeping everyone organized. We programmers can be an unruly lot; the power that flows through our fingers often goes straight to our heads. It’s science.
Anyway, RestlessIDE features OpenProject, a (you guessed it) open-source software package that lets you create and assign tickets, set timelines, build Gantt charts(!), write wiki pages, and manage your projects through whichever strategy works for you. Your whole team on RestlessIDE can log in using the same credentials, and you can configure it to send everyone emails at an alarming rate just like Jira, if you want to.
Conclusion
As you can see, RestlessIDE has a little something for everyone. If you’d like to experience it for yourself (and give us feedback, because we’re still growing and refining it!) please sign up for our beta! We can’t wait to show you what we can do.
Til next time.
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