JetBrains argues IDEs still matter in the agentic coding era: 'a cockpit, not a typing tool'
Sam_Witteveen · x · 2026-11-05
JetBrains' blog post "Why We Still Need an IDE" by Isaac Levin pushes back on the "I never open my IDE anymore" narrative. The workflow has genuinely shifted: developers now hand agents substantive multi-file tasks—dependency exploration, cross-package refactoring—so engineering is less about typing lines and more about steering intent.
Levin's analogy: it's like moving from hand-flying to a modern aircraft's flight computer. The computer handles complex execution because it's connected to the plane's instruments; the pilot still needs a cockpit to see the whole flight and intervene. Likewise, agents need a rich environment around them, and JetBrains Rider is evolving into a cockpit for agentic development—agent sessions, their status, and full project context in one view.
Related event: JetBrains argues the IDE still matters in the agentic era(4 posts)→
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