Top 6 Vibe Coding IDE List - Visual Studio Code Forks with Free AI

Let me get this straight. This is not a review post or anything like that.

I’m simply sharing a list of Visual Studio Code forks that include AI features, along with the companies behind them. This might be useful to some people.

There’s no doubt that Microsoft knows how to build great IDEs. I’ve been a long-time fan of Visual Studio (the full version, not the Code version), and VS Code comes in as my second favorite IDE. Even though VS Code is open source, there weren’t many serious forks competing with it in the past.

Then generative AI happened, especially large language models.

Once people realized how effective LLMs can be for coding, several companies started shipping VS Code forks bundled with their own AI features. While many of them offer similar AI capabilities, they work in different ways. Some even provide generous free credits to use their AI models.

So why not try them all?

Anyway, here is a list of VS Code and its forks that offer FREE AI credits:

Visual Studio Code by Microsoft

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is Microsoft’s free, open-source-based code editor and one of the most popular development environments available today. It’s lightweight, fast, highly customizable, and backed by a huge extension ecosystem that supports virtually every major programming language, framework, and developer workflow.

For AI-assisted coding, VS Code is especially compelling because developers can choose from a wide range of AI extensions rather than being locked into a single assistant. Tools for code completion, chat, debugging, refactoring, and agentic coding can integrate directly into the editor, making VS Code a flexible foundation for an AI-powered workflow—and the platform many newer AI-first VS Code forks build upon.

Visit Visual Studio Code website to download and install it manually based on your OS.
macOS installation with Homebrew:
```
brew install visual-studio-code
```

Windows installation with WinGet:

winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode

Antigravity IDE by Google

Google Antigravity is an AI-first development environment built around an agentic approach to coding. Based on the familiar Visual Studio Code experience, it combines a modern code editor with AI agents that can help developers understand codebases, generate and modify code, and handle more complex development tasks with less manual intervention.

What makes Antigravity especially interesting for AI-assisted coding is its focus on letting AI do more than simply autocomplete the next line of code. Its agents are designed to plan and execute multi-step tasks across a project, giving developers a more autonomous coding workflow while retaining the flexibility and familiar interface of a VS Code-style editor.

Visit Antigravity IDE website to download and install it manually based on your OS.
macOS installation with Homebrew:
```
brew install antigravity-ide
```
Windows installation with WinGet:
```
winget install Google.AntigravityIDE
```

Kiro by Amazon

Amazon Kiro is an AI-powered IDE from AWS that builds on the familiar Visual Studio Code experience while putting AI-assisted development at the center of the workflow. It combines a capable code editor with AI agents that can help developers write, understand, and modify code, making it approachable for VS Code users who want more AI built directly into their development environment.

What makes Kiro stand out is its focus on spec-driven development, where AI helps turn high-level ideas and requirements into structured specifications, technical designs, and actionable coding tasks. Alongside agentic coding features, this approach can make complex projects easier to plan and implement, giving developers more structure than a traditional AI autocomplete or coding chatbot.

Visit Kiro website to download and install it manually based on your OS.
macOS installation with Homebrew:
```
brew install kiro
```
Windows installation with WinGet:
```
winget install Amazon.Kiro
```

TRAE by ByteDance

TRAE is an AI-powered IDE developed by ByteDance that builds on the familiar Visual Studio Code experience while integrating AI deeply into the coding workflow. It combines a modern code editor with AI-assisted features for generating, explaining, and modifying code, making it an accessible option for developers who want an AI-first environment without straying too far from VS Code.

What makes TRAE stand out is its focus on agentic development, with AI that can understand project context and help tackle more complex coding tasks across a codebase. Features such as its AI chat and Builder mode aim to move beyond basic autocomplete, allowing developers to describe what they want to build and collaborate with AI to turn those ideas into working code more efficiently.

Visit TRAE website to download and install it manually based on your OS.
macOS installation with Homebrew:
```
brew install trae
```
Windows installation with WinGet:
```
winget install ByteDance.Trae
```

Cursor by Anysphere

Cursor is an AI-powered code editor developed by Anysphere and built on the familiar Visual Studio Code foundation. It keeps much of the VS Code experience developers already know while adding deeply integrated AI features for writing, understanding, and editing code, making it easy to adopt without completely changing your existing workflow.

What makes Cursor stand out is its strong codebase awareness and agentic coding capabilities. Its AI can work with context from across your project to answer questions, generate code, refactor multiple files, and handle more complex development tasks, going well beyond simple autocomplete. Combined with a polished interface and tight AI integration, Cursor has become a popular choice for developers looking to make AI a central part of their daily coding workflow.

Visit Cursor website to download and install it manually based on your OS.
macOS installation with Homebrew:
```
brew install cursor
```
Windows installation with WinGet:
```
winget install Anysphere.Cursor
```

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) by Cognition

Devin is an AI-powered software engineering platform developed by Cognition that takes a more autonomous approach to AI-assisted development. Rather than functioning primarily as a traditional code editor, Devin is designed as an AI software engineer that can take on development tasks, work with codebases, use developer tools, and execute multi-step workflows with less hands-on guidance.

What makes Devin stand out is its emphasis on delegating complete engineering tasks to AI instead of simply assisting with individual lines of code. Developers can give Devin a goal or issue to work on, while the AI plans its approach, writes and modifies code, and handles parts of the development process independently—making it particularly interesting for teams exploring more agentic, task-oriented coding workflows.

Visit Devin Desktop website to download and install it manually based on your OS.
macOS installation with Homebrew:
```
brew install devin-desktop
```
Windows installation with WinGet:
```
winget install CognitionAI.DevinDesktop
```

Others

No longer available

~~Antigravity v1 by Google~~
~~Windsurf by Cognition~~

If you’re running out of free AI credits, you can also use Amp by Sourcegraph, it’s compatible with VSCode or its forks. They offer the AI coding agent free of charge and supported by ads.