I’ve spent the better part of the last decade using different developer tools, from lightweight text editors to full-blown integrated development environments. Usually, the improvements are incremental, offering slightly better syntax highlighting or faster compile times.
But this weekend, I spent time with Google’s new IDE, Antigravity, and I have to say, the game has completely changed. This isn’t just another code editor; it is a fundamental shift in how we build software.
If you have been following the rapid rise of generative AI, you know that “vibe coding” has become a bit of a buzzword lately. The idea is that you focus on the outcome and the “vibe” of the application, while the AI handles the syntax and boilerplate.
Antigravity takes this concept and turns it into a shipping product that feels incredibly polished for a v1 release. Powered by Google’s latest LLM, Gemini 3 Pro, the integration goes far beyond a simple chat sidebar.
The power of Gemini 3 Pro
We have seen AI assistants in VS Code and other editors for a while now, but they often feel like bolted-on additions. They lack context, often hallucinate file paths, or simply refuse to make complex changes across multiple files.
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Google has solved this by baking Gemini 3 Pro directly into the core of Antigravity. It doesn’t just read the open file; it understands your entire project structure, dependencies, and business logic.
During my testing over the weekend, I threw a project at it that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s a web-based EV vs ICE Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator with some fairly messy legacy code.
I wanted to see if the hype around “agentic” coding was real, or if I’d end up spending more time fixing the AI’s mistakes than it would take to write the code myself. The results were honestly shocking.
Navigating complex tasks with agents
One of the most tedious parts of my project involves updating a list of JSON data that powers the dropdown values in the calculator. Usually, this requires manually verifying the JSON structure and then updating the Javascript logic to ensure the new values map correctly to the pricing formulas.
I asked the Antigravity agent to “update the region dropdowns to include three new Australian territories and adjust the shipping logic to match.” The agent didn’t just spit out a code snippet; it navigated the file system, found the JSON config, and identified the relevant Javascript controller.
Before it touched a single line of code, the system presented me with a Work Plan. This is a crucial feature that I think every AI tool needs to adopt immediately.
The interaction between the “vibe coder” and the IDE is very intuitive. It proposed a plan, made the switch and ran a test suite to validate.
All I had to do was approve the plan and watch it work. It was like watching a ghost typist navigate my files, make the edits, and then run the validation. The agent verified that the changes had the desired result before handing control back to me.
One-shot feature additions
Feeling confident after the JSON success, I decided to push the system harder. Clients are always asking for the ability to export results, so I asked Antigravity to “add a PDF download option for the calculated results.”
In a traditional workflow, this would involve finding a PDF library, installing the package, reading the documentation, and scaffolding the export function. With Antigravity, it was literally a single prompt.
The system understood the context of the project, selected an appropriate library, installed it, and wired up the button on the frontend. It even styled the button to match the existing CSS theme of the site.
The changes were summarised at the end in a Walkthrough. This feature helps you understand what changed, ensuring that you aren’t just blindly accepting AI-generated code that you don’t comprehend.
Understanding the project context
The secret sauce here is clearly the context window and retrieval capabilities of Gemini 3 Pro. Being able to prompt for changes at a project level means the system has to understand all files and understand where your changes are required.
This level of architectural awareness is what separates a junior developer from a senior one. Antigravity acts like a senior engineer who knows your codebase inside and out, ready to implement features at your command.
The token limit frustration
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Despite having Gemini Pro via my Google One subscription, I did hit a token limit during my heavy testing session on Sunday afternoon.
The error message was a bit abrupt, simply asking me to wait a number of hours or switch to an alternate model. For a tool this powerful, that is a significant workflow breaker.
I would love to see Antigravity show an indication of remaining tokens and how many tokens each request consumes. If I’m about to run a complex agent task that consumes 50,000 tokens, I want to know that before I click “Approve.”
Ideally, for professional users, there should be a straightforward path to top up tokens or a “Pro” tier that allows for higher limits. When you are in the flow state, being told to come back in four hours is incredibly frustrating.
A new era for developers
Despite the token hiccups, my weekend with Google Antigravity was one of the most impressive coding experiences I have had in years. It allows you to move from “coder” to “architect,” focusing on what the software should do rather than how to type the syntax.
The ability to test and validate changes automatically instils a level of confidence that is often missing from AI coding tools. It feels less like a chatbot and more like a competent colleague.
If you are a developer, or even just someone who dabbles in code, you need to try this out. Just be prepared to watch your project evolve faster than you thought possible.
In terms of model selection, naturally, Google will push their own option first, but do also offer Anthropic Claude 4.5 as well. I do wish they supported more competitors like Grok 4.1, and I’m sure others would like ChatGPT.
For more information, or to try it out for yourself, head to https://antigravity.google.com
