On November 16, 2025, the developer community got its first look at IDEmacs—a project that aims to recreate the sleek, user-friendly interface of Visual Studio Code within the legendary Emacs editor. If you’ve ever felt torn between the modern comforts of today’s IDEs and the raw power of traditional text editors, this announcement might just change your perspective.
Here’s what you need to know:
- IDEmacs is an open-source project hosted on Codeberg that brings VS Code’s UI/UX to Emacs
- It targets developers in key tech hubs like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, India, Japan, Canada, France, and Australia
- The project leverages AI tools like Claude and Gemini for development assistance
- This isn’t just another editor—it’s a bridge between two philosophical approaches to coding
Bridging the Gap Between Modern and Traditional
For decades, developers have debated whether to use feature-rich integrated development environments or lean, customizable text editors. Emacs represents the ultimate in extensibility—it’s practically an operating system for text manipulation. Meanwhile, Visual Studio Code from Microsoft has dominated the modern IDE space with its intuitive interface and vast extension ecosystem.
IDEmacs attempts to give you the best of both worlds. Imagine having VS Code’s clean sidebar, integrated terminal, and extension marketplace, but running on Emacs’ legendary Lisp-based foundation. You get the immediate productivity boosts of a modern IDE while retaining the nearly infinite customization that hardcore Emacs users cherish.
Why This Matters for Your Daily Workflow
If you’re like most developers, you probably spend hours each day in your editor. The choice between Emacs and VS Code often comes down to a trade-off between control and convenience. With IDEmacs, you might not have to choose anymore.
The Productivity Boost
Visual Studio Code’s interface is famously approachable. Its graphical settings, one-click installations, and visual debugger make onboarding new team members significantly easier. By bringing these elements to Emacs, IDEmacs could dramatically reduce the learning curve that traditionally accompanies Emacs adoption.
Countries with rapidly growing developer populations—like India and Japan—could particularly benefit from this lowered barrier to entry. Teams in these regions often need to balance training efficiency with powerful tooling, and IDEmacs might offer that sweet spot.
The Customization Advantage
Here’s where Emacs truly shines. While VS Code is extensible, Emacs is fundamentally built around the idea that you can reshape everything about your editing environment. With IDEmacs, you’re not just getting VS Code’s interface—you’re getting it on a platform where every single behavior can be modified using Emacs Lisp.
This means that once you’re comfortable with the basic interface, you can gradually dive into the advanced customization that makes Emacs users so productive. You can automate complex workflows, create custom keybindings, or even build entirely new features that don’t exist in standard IDEs.
Challenges and Considerations
Before you rush to install IDEmacs, there are some important limitations to consider. The project is still in its early stages, and recreating VS Code’s polished experience within Emacs is no small feat.
Performance and Integration Hurdles
Emacs and VS Code have fundamentally different architectures. VS Code is built on Electron, while Emacs is a much older codebase. Bridging these worlds means IDEmacs will need to carefully balance performance with feature completeness.
The use of AI assistants like Claude and Gemini in development suggests the team is leveraging modern tools to tackle these integration challenges. However, as the project’s documentation notes, this is an ambitious undertaking that will evolve over time.
The Learning Curve Still Exists
While IDEmacs aims to simplify the Emacs experience, you’ll still need to understand some Emacs concepts to take full advantage. Things like buffers, modes, and the minibuffer remain core to how Emacs operates beneath the VS Code-like surface.
Developers in regions with strong Emacs traditions—like the United States and Germany—might adapt more quickly. But those coming purely from VS Code backgrounds might find themselves needing to learn some Emacs fundamentals to unlock the full potential.
The bottom line:
IDEmacs represents an exciting convergence in developer tooling. It acknowledges that modern interfaces have real usability benefits while preserving the unparalleled extensibility that made Emacs legendary. For developers feeling constrained by their current editor choices, this project offers a path to having both convenience and control.
What should you do next? Keep an eye on the IDEmacs repository on Codeberg, try it out once it reaches a stable release, and consider how blending modern and traditional approaches might enhance your own coding practice. The future of development tools might just be about breaking down these artificial divides.
If you’re interested in related developments, explore our articles on Why Arc Raiders Could Revolutionize Extraction Shooters and Why Blended Wing Aircraft Could Revolutionize Air Travel.
