RestlessIDE Enters Public Beta

We’re happy to announce that the (future) best web-based development environment is finally entering public beta! This is a huge step for us here at RestlessDev as it’s our first Software as a Service product, and the culmination of two plus years of work. To celebrate the occasion we’ve launched a new website to help explain our vision and what sets us apart. Please check it out!

At this point, all major features of the application should be working, although there may be some specific parts that may not have been hit on as much during the private beta. With that in mind, we’re offering enhanced support for anyone joining during the public beta period.  Once you sign up we’ll reach out personally to help walk you through the signup process and make sure RestlessIDE meets your needs.

So What’s This RestlessIDE Then?

It’s been a little bit since our last flurry of posts, so here is a quick refresher for those who forget or who may have missed the previous announcements.

RestlessIDE is a web application that seeks to empower you and your team to do all of your development work from a browser.

The core of the service is the Workspace: An individual container that lets you work on your code from within a VS Code-compatible environment in your browser. You have full terminal access to install the libraries and other tools you need, and your workspace also has (up to) two available ports for external access so you can see the output of your application in real time. You can create additional Workspaces as needed for each one of your projects, keeping them all isolated from one another and letting you set up the ideal environment for each.

We didn’t stop there, though. As you dig in to RestlessIDE, you can add additional features to your account through adding Hosts, which are virtual machines that you can pack full of other development and collaboration tools. These include:

• Development databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB, each with web-based admin tools to let you define, see and modify your data right in the browser, and access it from any Workspace or legacy desktop IDEs.
• Caches including Redis and Memcache, also with web-based admin interfaces.
• Remote Desktops with an assortment of window managers, to let you access tools like Podman (a Docker-compatible container runtime), Gimp (a Photoshop-like image editor) and Filezilla (a SFTP/FTP application for when you need it) as well as any other desktop applications that don’t have good web equivalents. All available in the browser.
• Zulip, an open-source team messaging app with features similar to Slack, with both web and mobile interfaces.
• OpenProject, an open-source project management suite.
• Additional Workspaces, which can be set up with various CPU and memory configurations, and (on supported Hosts) can even have access to GPUs.

This is just our initial lineup of features. Over time we will be refining the available services we support, bringing in other open-source tools depending on what our users need and ask for.

What Sets RestlessIDE Apart?

Programming in the browser isn’t exactly new.

What sets us apart from others in the field comes down to a few main things:

1. We are trying to focus on the parts of the developer experience that fall outside of just editing code. With features like remote desktops and database admin tools, we’re trying to provide the “last mile” to let you break free from legacy desktop development. You should be able to jump online from any machine and just work.
2. Our pricing model is different from other cloud providers. Where others have you pay piecemeal for each service, often on an hourly or other awkwardly-metered basis, we offer a wide variety of Hosts that can be rented on a monthly basis to provide capacity you can use however you want. Once you have a Host, you can install various services, use them for a while, turn them off when you don’t need them to free up resources, install new ones as needed, and a whole lot more. No more zombie services that you pay for just because you don’t know if you’ll need them again, and no more surprises at the end of the month when you suddenly crossed some threshold and triggered a new pricing tier.
3. We’re not chasing trends. For example, our Workspaces do support AI extensions (via the OpenVSX registry) we aren’t making a big deal about it. You’ll notice AI was only mentioned as the last item on the last list of this page. Like it should be. We are focused on trying to get the simple things right, and to grow from there, finding new ways to bring value to our platform.

You can read more about our unique value proposition on the site.

We’re very excited to finally get RestlessIDE out there, and can’t wait for you to try it out. Why not sign up today?

Til next time.

(Photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash)