AI coding tools have gone from novelty to necessity. The best developers in 2026 aren't the ones who type the fastest — they're the ones who leverage AI most effectively. Here's your essential toolkit.
The best AI code editor available. Tab completion predicts entire functions, Cmd+K writes code from descriptions, and it understands your full codebase for intelligent suggestions.
The best AI for complex coding tasks. The 200K context window means you can feed it your entire codebase for analysis. Produces cleaner, better-documented code than alternatives.
The original AI coding assistant. Deeply integrated into VS Code and GitHub's ecosystem. Best for developers who prefer staying in the standard VS Code environment.
Great for explaining code concepts, debugging tricky issues, and quickly prototyping ideas. The ability to share code screenshots makes debugging visual issues easier.
When you need to find the right library, check if an API has changed, or research a technical approach — Perplexity gives you sourced, current answers.
Describe an app and it builds it — full-stack, in your browser. Amazing for rapid prototyping and MVPs. Not production-grade, but gets you 80% there instantly.
Cloud IDE with AI assistant built in. Perfect for quick projects, learning new languages, and collaborating with non-technical teammates.