Nitrous.IO - online IDE with SSH access and desktop synchronization application

Nitrous.IO is an online IDE for web development in Ruby, Python, Node.js and Go (the authors communicate more options with time). The main differences from a dozen of such projects are full-fledged SSH access to their boxes (about them below) and a desktop application that synchronizes the local code with the boxes, as Dropbox does. And most importantly, in the basic version, all this is provided for free, therefore, it is extremely easy to try and understand whether you need it.

How it works?

After free registration, the user receives 150 N2O to his account. These N2O are used to create boxes for development. 150 N2O is just enough to create one box with 384 MB of RAM and 750 MB of disk space. Since the boxes are not full-fledged servers, but just development environments with all the necessary pre-installed programs, during the creation it will also be necessary to choose in which environment you want to develop. Currently, as described above, Ruby, Python, Node.js, or Go are available to choose from.
The process of creating a box looks like this:


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After creating the box, you will get access to the online IDE (which, by the way, works just as well on tablets like the iPad). Online IDE consists of a simple file browser, a code editor with the possibility of collaboration in the style of google docs and a shell. The most interesting part is that they provide a full shell. Those. it is possible, for example, to deploy it to the full screen and edit the code in it with the help of vim.
It looks like this:



If you do not like the online IDE, you can connect to the box via SSH and use your favorite set of programs. In addition, there is a beta version of the desktop client (so far, unfortunately, only for Mac OS), which can synchronize files and folders between the local machine and the selected box.



I have been using the service for a couple of months, excluding a couple of rebuses of boxes due to technical problems, while there are no complaints. In my opinion, the boxes are not suitable for production placement due to all sorts of restrictions, but for training or small / trial projects - that’s what.

Introductory video from the developers

A more detailed overview of all the main features of Nitrous.IO can be viewed in the introductory video from the developers (in English):

Getting N2O

Currently, N2O can be obtained in two ways:
- contact the developers directly and sign a contract (for example, one of the US universities did for their programming classes)
- “earn” more N2O by performing small tasks on a special page (such as connecting facebook, twitter, github and inviting friends)

Links

Nitrous.IO | Cost Calculator | Nitrous.IO for Chrome | Nitrous.IO for Mac | Nitrous.IO with my referral