JetBrains abandons Fleet for Air agentic development environment
JetBrains has pivoted from Fleet to Air, an agentic development environment designed for asynchronous workflows. This shift comes as Zed gains momentum with its $32M Series B funding and VS Code maintains dominance through its massive extension ecosystem.
JetBrains abandoned Fleet.
The company now builds Air, an agentic development environment. This pivot follows the failure of Fleet to establish a clear niche between lightweight editors and full IDEs. Users faced confusion because JetBrains maintained two overlapping product lines. I recommend Air only to developers who focus on asynchronous agentic workflows. These workflows involve developers guiding agents through task definition, context assembly, and review-first processes. The agentic loop relies on structured task definition, context assembly, multiple asynchronous runs, isolated execution, and review-first workflows. Because developers must guide agents through task definition and review-first workflows, JetBrains is building Air to focus on these asynchronous agentic loops instead of traditional, synchronous IDE workflows. Fleet attempted to explore a lighter architecture and modern UI. While Fleet components now power other JetBrains IDEs, the product itself did not provide enough value to justify the transition for existing IntelliJ users.
Zed and VS Code momentum
Zed maintains momentum.
The company holds over $42M in total funding. A $32M Series B led by Sequoia in 2025 supports the development of DeltaDB. This system uses CRDTs to synchronize changes and conversations. It allows real-time interactions that Git’s snapshot-based model cannot support. Zed also offers character-level permalinks that survive code transformations. This technology helps users anchor interactions to arbitrary locations in the codebase. Hundreds of thousands of daily users utilize the Zed editor. Zed uses a Rust UI framework called GPUI and employs GPU shaders for rendering. The editor supports debugging, native Git support, and remote development. While VS Code relies on a monthly release cycle to stay current, JetBrains must prove that its new Air product can compete with the massive extension ecosystem that users expect. VS Code remains the leader for developers who need a free, open-source editor with a massive marketplace. VS Code provides highly specific configurations through settings and extensions. Zed targets the growing market of developers who delegate tasks like updating tests, cleaning code, or refactoring modules to AI agents.
| Feature | JetBrains Air/Fleet | VS Code | Zed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Distributed client-server | Electron-based | GPU-rendered (GPUI) |
| AI Focus | Agentic workflows | Extension-based | Real-time collaboration |
| Pricing | Subscription | Free / Open-source | Open-source / Paid service |
| Collaboration | Built-in | Extension-reliant | DeltaDB (CRDT-based) |
Performance hurdles
Performance remains a risk.
One tester found that Fleet consumed 12X more memory than VS Code. Other developers report that JetBrains tools fail to handle large monorepos efficiently. A user with an M3 Max and 36GB of RAM still reported that actions in JetBrains tools take ages to complete. This delay is particularly noticeable when the smart mode engine takes 3 to 4 seconds to start up. I would skip the Air transition if it does not resolve these fundamental speed issues. Many users have already switched to Zed or GitKraken because of these frustrations. Some users had to increase their memory heap to 64GB to reduce freezing. Others noticed that TypeScript engine issues caused performance to grind to a halt. Users also reported that IntelliJ sometimes forgets how a Maven project should be built, turning the workspace into a sea of red. Can Air overcome these deep architectural flaws?
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