Introducing Gitpod Flex: Automating the software development lifecycle

Johannes Landgraf Co-Founder, CEO at Gitpod

Christian Weichel Co-Founder, CTO at Gitpod

Oct 1, 2024

Five years ago, we introduced automated and standardized development environments. Over 1.5 million users later, we are the leading cloud development environment (CDE) platform. Developers use Gitpod for an average of 36 hours a week. Our enterprise revenue has grown tenfold since last year. Today, we launch our Act 2: Gitpod Flex.

We live in a volatile world that changes fast. AI is transforming software development and global security threats are multiplying. Natural language programming is lowering entry barriers putting us on track to one billion developers, human and agentic. At the same time, AI is helping threat actors launch faster, more powerful attacks. And when English turns Python into object code, risks grow exponentially.

To succeed in the decade ahead, we have to zero in on first principles, not hype or fear. The highest performing engineering teams establish strong fundamentals that scale for both human and AI developers. Those fundamentals start where we develop software, in development environments.

We believe that all software development must happen in secure, compartmentalized, readily available and interactive environments — API accessible and machine comprehensible.

Today, we launch Gitpod Flex: the first automation platform for zero-trust development environments.

Through its runner-based architecture, Flex is designed to run on laptops, clouds and on-premises, keeping source code, data, and intellectual property within your private network. It’s what developers have been asking us for. For enterprises, it makes the secure choice the easy choice.

We built Gitpod Flex to give you the building blocks for automating your software development lifecycle, starting with development environments.

Here is how it works.

Automations

Automations are programmable tasks and services defined in your repository or via our API. They empower developers to self-serve, and help developer productivity teams centralize improvements to development environments. What sets Automations apart is their ability to trigger based on events unique to development environments. This goes beyond simple script execution.

With automations you can:

• Provision and seed databases
• Customize developer workflows for your needs
• Launch ephemeral clusters
• Configure LLM-powered agentic workflows
• Centrally enforce global or regional security and compliance

Learn more in our feature highlight.

Zero-trust environments

Gitpod’s zero-trust development environments will ‘never trust, always verify’ every actor and service. This can stop bad actors completely, significantly reduce attack surface area, and reduce risks of malware or code exfiltration. Gitpod Flex incorporates:

• Continuously assessed, explicit verification
• Proven enterprise-grade encryption
• Granular access controls
• Full control over networking
• Complete audit logs

Most importantly, this keeps your source code, data, and IP within your private network.

Learn more in our feature highlight.

Gitpod Desktop

Gitpod users can now standardize and automate local development environments. Starting with Apple Silicon. This provides:

• Zero-latency
• Faster, lighter, simpler replacement for Docker Desktop for development
• Cost optimization leveraging local compute
• Disaster recovery to support cloud or endpoint outages

Learn more in our feature highlight.

Development Container support

We heard you wanted us to adopt Development Containers. Gitpod Flex now fully integrates the Dev Container specification, so you can:

• Use your existing Dev Container configurations without changes.
• Enjoy compatibility with VS Code and other supporting tools.
• Work consistently, whether locally or in the cloud.

By embracing the Dev Container standard, we make it easier to define, share, and manage your development environments.

Learn more in our feature highlight.

The launchpad for automating software development in the decade ahead

We’ve been thinking about development environments too small. They’re more than just IDEs, dependencies, and tools—they are the foundational space where software is created. It’s where code is prototyped, shaped by humans and machines, tested, refactored, compiled, packaged, signed, and released. Development environments provide unparalleled access to development contexts, workflows and insights, unlocking capabilities like no other development platform.

Our product vision stretches far beyond today’s launch. Imagine a world where:

• Continuous Integration (CI) converges with development environments. Gitpod becomes the central hub for development, production-like testing and continuous integration. Failed jobs turn into debug-ready environments connected to your editor, eliminating tedious reproduction steps. Shifting CI back left unites what has always been intrinsically linked. It resolves ‘works on my machine’ problems, centralizes knowledge and processes, and eliminates double maintenance.

• System of record for software development. Gitpod centralizes tools and context crucial for discovering, building and operating software. As software development’s system of record, Gitpod gathers metrics and generates insights, helping teams improve continuously. It paves the road for developers providing actionable, self-serve access. By automating environments and workflows, Gitpod drives developer productivity.

• Platform for next-generation developer tools. Gitpod provides a standardized and secure interface for tool vendors and developer productivity teams to integrate and build upon. AI and security agents, advanced debuggers and tools yet to be conceived get secure access to the development runtime without wrestling with varied infrastructure. The results are faster tool adoption and innovation, freeing enterprises from repeatedly solving distribution and access challenges as new technologies emerge.

As we move beyond the static picture of development environments, this isn’t just about improving coding practices.

It’s about building the fastest, most secure way for companies to scale and succeed in the decade ahead, from startups to Fortune 50.

Try Gitpod Flex today in early access. We like the platform and think you will too.