Why we built a paired IDE instead of another cloud IDE
Hey everyone, maker here.
Wanted to share the call we had to make early on, in case it's useful to anyone weighing the same trade-off.
The default playbook for "drive your IDE from anywhere" is move the IDE to the cloud. There are great products doing this. We picked a different shape: keep the IDE on your laptop, run a thin extension that opens a WebSocket to a relay, then let the mobile app and web client join that same room. Code never leaves your machine. The relay forwards typed messages and nothing else.
The trade-off is real:
– Paired IDE wins on: privacy (your code stays put), zero new runtime to trust, works with whatever editor config you already have
– Cloud IDE wins on: reachable when your laptop is off, no client install needed, instant collaboration
For us, the privacy + "use my actual setup" side mattered more, most people we talked to either had proprietary code or just didn't want the cognitive overhead of a second editor. If you're working through the same decision for your own product or workflow, what's the deciding factor for you? Genuinely curious where the line falls for different teams.
If you are interested in with product, you can check it there; Remoot
Remoot Mobile Companion (Android)
Thanks in advance.
Replies