Trae

Published by Dusan Belic on March 16, 2025

Trae by ByteDance

An adaptive AI IDE designed to revolutionize the coding experience

Trae

Trae is an adaptive AI Integrated Development Environment (IDE) designed to revolutionize the coding experience. It acts as a coding partner that not only understands your project but also anticipates your next move to make development smoother and more efficient.

Developed by ByteDance, the creators of TikTok, Trae integrates advanced AI models to assist developers in real-time. Its sleek, modern interface offers a refreshing departure from traditional code editors — aiming to enhance productivity and streamline workflows.

Trae integrates with all the top AI models from OpenAI and Ahtropic, providing developers with the flexibility to choose the AI that best suits their specific needs. For instance, while working on a complex algorithm, you may find that switching between models offers diverse perspectives.

Also worth mentioning is Trae’s intelligent context awareness. The AI doesn’t just process the current file — it comprehends the entire development context. By selecting specific code snippets, files, or even entire projects – the AI provides responses that are tailored to the task at hand.

Then, there’s Trae’s Builder mode, which is meant to elevate AI assistance to a whole new level. This feature aids in developing entire features or projects from scratch. Unlike basic code generators, Builder analyzes the existing codebase to understand patterns and conventions, ensuring that new code seamlessly integrates. During a recent project, I described the functionality I needed, and Builder generated the necessary code along with related files and suggested testing strategies. This holistic approach significantly reduces development time while improving the code quality.

All in all, Trae presents a compelling option for developers aiming to integrate AI into their coding practices. Its combination of advanced features, modern interface, and free access to AI models makes it a worthy contender in the realm of AI-assisted development tools.

Trae Homepage

Categories Coding & Development

Video Overview ▶️

What are the key features? ⭐

Multi-AI model integration: Trae provides access to advanced AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic, allowing developers to choose the most suitable assistant for their tasks.
Intelligent context awareness: The AI understands the entire project context, offering tailored suggestions that align with existing code structures.
Builder Mode: Assists in developing complete features or projects by analyzing current codebases and generating cohesive, production-ready code.
Modern UI: Trae features a sleek design inspired by top IDEs, providing an intuitive and visually appealing coding environment.
Real-time collaboration: Facilitates seamless collaboration among team members, enhancing productivity and code quality.

Who is it for? 🤔

Trae primarily targets developers seeking to enhance their productivity through AI-assisted coding. It can be particularly beneficial for those working on complex projects requiring efficient code management and generation. In addition, educational institutions and coding bootcamps may find Trae valuable for teaching programming concepts interactively. However, professionals handling sensitive data should carefully assess the platform's privacy policies before integration into their workflows.

Examples of what you can use it for 💭

Leverage AI assistance to quickly generate boilerplate code
Get insightful suggestions for improving and optimizing existing codebases
New programmers can utilize Trae to better understand coding concepts
Quickly build and test new features or applications with the help of AI-generated code snippets and project structures
Teams can work together more effectively, using Trae's real-time collaboration features

Pros & Cons ⚖️

Free access to advanced AI models!
Comprehensive AI features, from code generation to project-wide analysis
Seamlessly incorporates AI assistance into existing development processes

Privacy concerns as the use of user data could be used for AI training

FAQs 💬

What exactly is Trae AI, and who is it built for?

Trae AI is basically an adaptive AI-powered IDE, forked from VS Code but supercharged with agentic AI to make coding feel like teaming up with a smart collaborator. It handles everything from planning tasks to generating code, testing, and previews, all in one spot. It's aimed at developers who want to ship faster, whether you're a solo indie hacker prototyping an MVP, a student tackling assignments, or a small team debugging complex backends. Think of it as Cursor's rival but with more autonomous "SOLO" mode for hands-off building. I think it's especially handy if you're tired of context-switching between chat tools and your editor.

How does Trae AI's SOLO mode work, and is it reliable for real projects?

SOLO mode kicks in as your autonomous AI engineer, taking a rough idea like "build a real-time booking API with PCI compliance" and breaking it down: it plans tasks, spins up sub-agents for coding, testing, and design, then executes in parallel while showing live previews. You can oversee via a clean GUI, tweak on the fly, or let it run. From what users say on Reddit and Product Hunt, it's solid for MVPs and small-to-medium projects, hitting 64% success on complex tasks in benchmarks, but might need polishing for edge cases in huge codebases. Probably best to start with something simple to build trust.

What AI models does Trae support, and do I need my own API keys?

Trae taps into top models like GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet (not the hyped "Claude 4" some early reviews griped about), Gemini 3 for multimodal stuff, and even DeepSeek for planning. No, you don't need your own keys, which is a big win over tools like Cursor, Trae handles the backend for free access to these. Just pick the model in the IDE, though peak-hour queues can pop up on the free tier. Recent X posts from November 2025 confirm Gemini 3 integration is smooth for sharper context.

Is there a free version of Trae AI, and what's the catch with Pro?

Yeah, the base version is totally free with unlimited access to core features like SOLO mode, basic AI chats, and VS Code extensions, no credit card needed. Pro kicks it up with no queues, higher context limits (beyond the free 6,000-character cap), unlimited SOLO runs, and priority support for about $20/month or $200/year. The catch? Free users might hit waits during busy times, and some advanced MCP integrations (for external tools) are Pro-only. Users on r/Trae_ai say the upgrade's worth it if you're coding daily.

How does Trae handle privacy and data security?

Trae runs on isolated environments with third-party models, and they swear up and down they don't train on your code or store it for anything sneaky, per their transparent policy you can check anytime. No data sharing for improvements, which eases worries from ByteDance roots. That said, some Reddit folks still flag the ToS for broad usage rights on your inputs, so if you're paranoid about enterprise stuff, chat their support for a DPA. Overall, it feels trustworthy for most indie work.

Can Trae AI integrate with my existing tools and workflows?

Absolutely, it pulls in VS Code extensions, settings, and shortcuts right out of the gate, plus supports MCP for hooking into databases, APIs, or custom tools. You get SSH/WSL for remote work, and it plays nice with Git, terminals, and previews for frontend tweaks. X users mention seamless swaps from Cursor, though Linux support's still beta. If your stack's heavy on specific libs, test it first, might save headaches.

How does Trae AI compare to Cursor or Claude Code?

Trae edges out on free access to premium models and SOLO's agentic planning, which feels more "team-like" than Cursor's direct edits, per 2025 benchmarks where Trae topped SWE-bench for GitHub issue resolution. Cursor's stronger on massive context for huge repos, but Trae's UI is cleaner and cheaper, with live previews that speed up iteration. Claude Code shines in deep reasoning but lacks Trae's GUI. Devs switching say Trae's better for quick MVPs, Cursor for polished production.

What platforms does Trae run on, and is it stable for daily use?

It's available for Mac and Windows right now, with Linux in beta and mobile previews via web. Stability's pretty good post-2.0 update, users report smooth runs for hours without crashes, though early 2025 reviews hit bugs on complex refactors. Recent Product Hunt feedback calls it "polished" for daily workflows, but keep an eye on queues. Download the latest to avoid old hiccups.

Is Trae AI good for beginners or non-coders?

For sure, if you're new to coding, SOLO mode acts like a patient tutor, planning steps and explaining diffs as it goes, which beats staring at blank screens. Students on r/Trae_ai rave about it for assignments, turning vague ideas into working code fast. But it assumes some basics, like reviewing outputs, so pair it with tutorials. Might overwhelm total newbies at first, though.

How do I get started with Trae AI, and what's the learning curve?

Head to trae.ai, download for your OS, import VS Code stuff if you want, and jump into a new project. Start with the chat sidebar for quick fixes or SOLO for full builds, tutorial vids in-app guide you. Curve's gentle if you're IDE-savvy, maybe a day to groove, per X devs. Free tier lets you poke around risk-free, and their Discord's buzzing with tips.