So you’re a developer in 2025. You fire up VS Code to write some JavaScript, and it immediately consumes 2.3GB of RAM before you’ve even opened a file. IntelliJ takes 47 seconds to start up and then spends another 30 seconds “indexing” your project. Your editor crashes because one of your 73 extensions had a conflict with another extension that you installed to fix a problem caused by a third extension.
Meanwhile, your colleague opens a terminal, types claude, and starts shipping features faster than you can configure your workspace.
Welcome to the Great IDE Collapse, where we’re finally admitting that our “professional development environments” have become bloated monstrosities that solve problems we don’t have while creating problems we can’t fix.
The future of coding isn’t in your favorite IDE. It’s in the terminal. With AI.
The IDE Bloat Apocalypse#
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: modern IDEs are absolutely ridiculous.
VS Code: Microsoft’s “lightweight” editor now requires more RAM than entire operating systems used to need. My VS Code instance is currently using 1.8GB of memory to edit a 200-line Python file. For context, that’s more memory than the original iPhone had total.
IntelliJ IDEA: A Java IDE that takes longer to start than some small applications take to build and deploy. I’ve literally run gradle build faster than IntelliJ can finish “preparing workspace.”
Eclipse: Still exists, somehow. Still crashes regularly. Still makes developers question their life choices.
Android Studio: IntelliJ with extra weight and Google’s special brand of “we know better than you” UI decisions.
And the real kicker? We’ve convinced ourselves this is normal. We’ve normalized the idea that text editing requires gigabytes of RAM and complex extension ecosystems that break every other Tuesday.
The Extension Hell Spiral#
Here’s how every IDE experience goes:
- Install fresh IDE, it’s pretty basic
- Need syntax highlighting for your language? Install an extension
- Want better Git integration? Different extension
- Need debugging? Another extension
- Want AI completion? Yet another extension
- Extension A conflicts with Extension B
- Update Extension C, breaks Extension D
- Spend 2 hours troubleshooting extension conflicts
- Restart IDE 47 times
- Consider career change
We’ve built elaborate plugin ecosystems to recreate basic functionality that should just work. And every plugin is a potential point of failure, compatibility nightmare, and security risk.
Your IDE has become a house of cards held together by third-party extensions written by people who may or may not still be maintaining them.
The Terminal Renaissance#
While we’ve been building increasingly complex IDEs, something interesting happened: terminals got really, really good.
Modern terminal emulators like Ghostty, Alacritty, and Windows Terminal are fast, beautiful, and stable. They start instantly, use minimal resources, and don’t crash when you install updates.
Shell improvements like zsh with oh-my-zsh, fish, and modern bash give you powerful completion, history, and customization without the overhead of a full GUI application.
Terminal multiplexers like tmux and screen let you manage multiple sessions, split panes, and maintain context across disconnections.
Command-line tools have exploded in quality and usability. Tools like fd, rg, bat, fzf, and jq are often faster and more powerful than their GUI equivalents.
But the real game-changer? AI that works natively in the terminal.
The Claude Code Revolution#
This is where everything changes. Claude Code represents a fundamental shift in how we think about development environments.
Instead of configuring extensions, managing plugins, and wrestling with IDE complexity, you just… talk to an AI that understands code.
Want to refactor a function? Ask Claude Code. It understands your codebase better than any static analysis tool.
Need to debug an issue? Claude Code can analyze your logs, suggest fixes, and even implement them.
Writing tests? Claude Code generates comprehensive test suites faster than you can configure your test runner extension.
Learning a new framework? Claude Code provides context-aware help without you needing to install documentation plugins.
The productivity difference is staggering. No extension conflicts. No startup time. No memory bloat. Just fast, intelligent assistance that works with any codebase, any language, any tool.
The Productivity Lie#
The IDE industry has sold us a lie: that more features equal more productivity.
The reality? Most developers spend more time configuring their IDE than using its advanced features.
Studies of actual developer behavior show that 90% of coding time is spent on:
- Reading and editing text
- Running commands
- Searching files and code
- Basic debugging
The other 10% is split between dozens of “advanced” features that justify the complexity of modern IDEs. Features like:
- Complex refactoring tools (that work 70% of the time)
- Integrated databases browsers (that are worse than dedicated tools)
- Built-in terminals (that are worse than actual terminals)
- Plugin marketplaces (that are sources of complexity, not solutions)
Meanwhile, terminal + AI gives you:
- Instant startup (0.1 seconds vs 30+ seconds)
- Minimal resource usage (50MB vs 2GB+)
- No extension conflicts (because no extensions)
- Better AI integration (because it’s designed for it)
- Faster feedback loops (because no GUI overhead)
The Flow State Factor#
Here’s what IDE advocates don’t understand: interruption kills productivity more than missing features.
Every time your IDE:
- Shows a popup notification
- Updates an extension in the background
- Rebuilds its index
- Crashes and needs to restart
- Prompts you to update something
You lose flow state. The mental context switching required to deal with IDE complexity is productivity poison.
Terminal + AI workflows preserve flow state:
- No popups (unless you want them)
- No background processes competing for attention
- No complex UI state to manage
- No “workspace setup” ritual before you can code
This is the essence of “vibe coding” - maintaining flow state over feature completeness. Sometimes the best development environment is the one that gets out of your way completely.
The Enterprise Denial#
Of course, enterprise companies are resisting this shift with predictable arguments:
“Professional developers need professional tools”
Translation: expensive GUIs look more “serious” than terminal windows. This is the same mindset that insists PowerPoint presentations are more professional than clear written communication.
“Terminal interfaces are harder to onboard new developers”
Wrong. New developers learn faster with simpler tools. Teaching someone Claude Code + vim takes a week. Teaching someone the full feature set of IntelliJ takes months.
“We need integrated debugging and profiling”
Modern command-line debugging tools are often better than IDE integrations. And when they’re not, you can use both - terminal for development, dedicated tools for specialized tasks.
“What about team standardization?”
Standardizing on terminal + AI is easier than standardizing on IDE configurations. Everyone’s vim can be different, but everyone’s git commands work the same way.
The New Generation#
Meanwhile, a new generation of developers is growing up that never fully adopted the IDE-centric workflow.
They’re learning to code with:
- Neovim + LSP for editing
- Claude Code for AI assistance
- Terminal multiplexers for session management
- Command-line tools for everything else
And they’re shipping features faster than the IDE users who’ve been “optimizing their development environment” for years.
TikTok and YouTube are full of developers showing off terminal-based workflows. Not as a nostalgic throwback, but as a genuinely more productive way to write code.
This generation doesn’t see the terminal as “hardcore” or “intimidating.” They see it as fast, clean, and powerful.
The Vim Renaissance#
Neovim deserves special mention here. What started as a cleanup of vim has become something remarkable: a text editor that’s both incredibly fast and infinitely extensible.
Modern Neovim with LSP support gives you:
- Syntax highlighting and completion for any language
- Real-time error checking
- Symbol navigation and references
- Integrated terminal
- Git integration
- All while using less memory than a single Chrome tab
And unlike IDE plugins, Neovim plugins are generally fast, stable, and composable. The plugin ecosystem encourages small, focused tools that do one thing well.
What the Future Looks Like#
The development environment of the future isn’t an IDE. It’s:
A fast terminal that starts instantly and never crashes
A text editor (vim, emacs, or even nano) that’s optimized for editing, not feature accumulation
AI assistance (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, or similar) that understands your code and can perform complex operations
Command-line tools for specific tasks (git, docker, curl, jq, etc.) that are fast, reliable, and composable
Language-specific tooling (rustc, go, python, node) that’s designed for terminal use
No startup time. No extension conflicts. No memory bloat. No complex configuration. Just fast, reliable tools that get out of your way.
The Migration Path#
If you’re currently IDE-dependent:
- Start with terminal basics: Learn your shell, basic file navigation, and command-line git
- Try Claude Code: Use it alongside your IDE for simple tasks
- Learn a terminal editor: Start with nano or micro, eventually try vim or emacs
- Gradually reduce IDE dependence: Use the terminal for more tasks over time
- Embrace the workflow: Stop trying to recreate IDE features in the terminal
If you’re building development tools:
- Think terminal-first: How does your tool work from the command line?
- Integrate with AI: How can AI agents use your tool effectively?
- Avoid the GUI trap: Don’t build complex interfaces when simple ones work better
- Compose, don’t integrate: Build tools that work well with other tools
The Bottom Line#
The Great IDE Collapse isn’t about returning to the 1980s. It’s about recognizing that the terminal + AI combination provides a better development experience than complex, resource-heavy IDEs.
Faster startup. Lower resource usage. Better AI integration. Fewer compatibility issues. Preserved flow state.
The developers who embrace this shift early will have a significant productivity advantage over those clinging to IDE-centric workflows.
The companies that build AI-first development tools for terminal users will disrupt the IDE vendors who are busy adding AI features to already-bloated applications.
VS Code isn’t going to disappear overnight. But its days as the “obvious choice” for development are numbered.
The future belongs to developers who value speed over features, simplicity over complexity, and flow state over fancy GUIs.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
P.S. - If your IDE takes longer to start than it takes to read this sentence, maybe it’s time to try something different.
P.P.S. - Yes, IDEs will probably add better AI integration. But adding AI to a bloated platform isn’t the same as building AI-native tools from scratch.