e2b (english2bits) is an IDE powered by AI agents. Developers describe what they want to build by writing documentation. Then let AI agents with access to tools do the coding work.

Open-source IDE powered by AI agents that do the work for you

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Example of AI agent building Stripe checkout. Left - technical specification written by human. Right - steps that the AI agent took and tools that it used to build the server route required by the specification.

e2b or etob (english2bits) is a new kind of development environment powered by AI. The main idea is that developers have access to AI agents that can use tools. The developer writes a short documentation or a technical spec in plain English and then lets the AI agent do the actual work. The AI agents have access to tools like writing to a file, running code, running commands, installing dependencies, deploying, etc. Agents operate in a secure sandboxed cloud environment that's powered by Firecracker. This way, you for example describe what a server route should do and the agent codes it for you. Like this example of an AI agent coding Stripe customer checkout based on a technical spec.

BYOM, BYOP, BYOT

• BYOM - Bring Your Own Model
• BYOP - Bring Your Own Prompt
• BYOT - Bring Your Own Tools

We think the AI-powered IDE for the future should be open-sourced and allow anybody to bring their models, customize the prompts, and develop custom tools for the agents. But we also plan to offer a cloud version with some features behind subscription though.

Get started

You will need:

• GPT-4 access (we will add support for custom models later)
• Docker
• Node.js 16+
• Yarn
• Python 3.10+
• Poetry 1.3.2+

1. Install dependencies

yarn install:all

2. Start local Supabase

yarn db:start

Local Supabase runs in the background - to stop it you have to run yarn db:stop.

3. Add env vars

Create .env file by copying the .env.example

cp .env.example .env

and fill in the following variables:

• OPENAI_API_KEY - your OpenAI key
• SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY - Supabase service role key you got in the previous step as service_role key: eyJh......
• NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY - Supabase anonymous key you got in the previous step as anon key: eyJh......

4. Start the app

yarn dev

Then open the page on http://localhost:3000 and sign in with the testing credentials:

Email

admin@admin.com

Password

admin@admin.com

Current state

e2b is a work in progress. The developer <--> AI agent cooperation creates completely new paradigms. We're exploring how the ideal UX, UI, and cooperation with the agents should look like. The app will surely go through a lot of changes in the short and medium term.

How are we going to make money?

You will always be able to self-host e2b for free. We will also offer a cloud version. The current idea is to offer the base cloud version for free while having some features for individuals behind a subscription. We'll share more on pricing for companies and enterprises in the future.

Early demos

• AI Agent using coding tools
• Build your custom "Just-In-Time" UI
• Agent coded a full Stripe customer checkout by following a technical spec provided by user

Roadmap

Short-term goals, in no particular order.

• Come up with the name
• Clean up codebase and provide instructions on how to run it locally
• Set up a website
• Launch the initial version