Death of the IDE?

Addy Osmani argues the center of developer work is shifting — not vanishing, but moving. It has been reported that in a recent essay he describes a future where supervising autonomous agents becomes the primary developer activity, and the traditional editor is one tool among many. Cursor's new Glass interface is cited as a signal of this change; it has been reported that Glass makes agent management the first-class experience and treats the code editor like a deep-dive instrument you only reach for when necessary.

From editors to orchestrators

The old loop — open file, edit, build, debug, repeat — is loosening its grip. The new loop looks more like: specify intent → delegate → observe → review diffs → merge. Tools from Claude Code Web and GitHub Copilot Agents to Conductor, Jules, Vibe Kanban and terminal UIs like cmux have allegedly converged on the same pattern: agents run isolated workspaces, plan multi-file changes, run tests, and hand back a PR for human review. Work isolation (git worktrees or equivalents) and task-oriented UIs replace tabs and files as the top-level mental model.

Why it matters

This is equal parts convenience and disruption. Developers might spend less time hunched over line-by-line edits and more time curating, verifying, and steering outcomes. A little mournful? Sure — there’s nostalgia for the tactile craft of typing — but there’s also relief: fewer fiddly setup steps, parallel workstreams that don’t collide, and faster iteration. So is the IDE dead? Not exactly. More likely it will evolve into an orchestration surface — the control plane that ties together agents, tests, and review workflows — while editors become specialized tools for when humans still want to get their hands dirty.

Sources: addyo.substack.com, Lobsters