Project IDX, Google’s experimental, AI-powered, cloud-based developer platform, has added Android and iOS simulators and templates for Go, Python, Node.js, and other languages and development frameworks, the company announced on January 25.
An experimental initiative in limited preview, Project IDX is intended to bring an entire full-stack, multi-platform application development to the cloud. The latest additions bring an iOS simulator and Android emulators into the browser, enabling developers to see what their applications look like across multiple platforms without having to leave their workspace. The Android emulators allow full testing of the Android app from the IDX workspace, while the iOS simulator allows for “spot-checking” the app’s layout and behavior. The iOS simulation is still in an experimental phase.
Project IDX intelligently loads the right preview environment for the application, Google said, including Safari mobile and Chrome browsers, Android, iOS, and Chrome for Flutter templates. Additional templates are offered for Astro, Go, Python/Flask, Node.js, and other languages and frameworks. More compatibility tools also have been added, allowing developers to run command-line tools directly in the browser and add Docker files to IDX workspaces.
Providing AI-powered code generation, chat, code explanation, and code completion suggestions, Project IDX was launched in August. Project IDX begins with a web-based workspace for coding and leverages the scalability and security of Google Cloud, Google said. Project templates on IDX support developing apps using frameworks such as Angular, Flutter, Next.js, React, Svelte, and Vue.