Created: 2021-09-15 21:41
Today (2021-09-15) I had a conversation with Ives and Bas, the two founders of Codesandbox.
They are working on Codesandbox v2. The goal is the make a full blown development environment, not only for prototyping like it is now.
Their whole idea is about software development in the cloud. With many different clients: VS Code, Codesandbox web, iPad app.
A sandbox then will have your code and also your running application. The goal is to enable a really fast feedback cycle. And lower the barrier of collaboration to other members of the team. Eg. designers could leave comments while the feature is being developed. This is the next level of staging environments and ephemeral deployments for PRs (a la Vercel).
They propose a paradigm shift in how development is done, just like Figma did for the design landscape. Software development should be more social
The whole project is aligned with their values:
- Accessible — we’re making development accessible to all, building a reality where everyone can be a creator.
- Collaborative — providing people with the means to encourage and help each other.
- Empowering — enabling creators to feel like they can build without limits.
Update: Codesandbox Projects
Announcing Codesandbox Projects
Codesandbox Projects was released as a closed beta on March 17th, 2022. A full blow cloud development platform with tons of collaboration features, working on their web client, through the VS Code extension, and the iOS app.
I had the opportunity to join the bet group. Nicole introduced me to Codesandbox v2.
I think the most exciting is the iPad support. I’ve been doing more and more on my iPad since I got the keyboard with integrated trackpad.
But for working in a team, the whole social aspect and the idea of this “open shared session” will change everything.
Teams can decide if they stick to the traditional asynchronous approach with PRs as the central moment in time for sharing knowledge and feedback, and only use Codesandbox for sporadic collaboration. Or if they want to get fully onboard with the tool and work on the same branch together until ready to merge the changes to master.
A paradigm shift
The Codesandbox team has been using Projects to develop Projects and all things Codesandbox.
Having this collaborative environment open to the whole team meant a paradigm shift for them. Instead of having PRs as this official point in time when coding becomes a social activity by inviting people to review, they are working together in longer lived branches. Since people have collaborated in the branch already, the requirement for PRs is not that high.