DevSwarm: Building a Parallel AI Coding Platform in Under 6 Months

before

Using AI coding assistants in our daily work, our team was held back by disjointed tools designed for the pre-AI age

We knew we could build better by running agents in parallel, but IDEs weren’t built to support this advanced AI workflow

Building AI-native tools for clients demanded a faster, more integrated development stack designed to harness AI’s full potential

after

Developed an internal alpha that let us orchestrate multiple AI agents from a single platform

Used the Alpha version to accelerate our own product development, cutting months off our Beta release timeline

Within 5 months and without sacrificing quality, released DevSwarm Beta as a free download for engineers seeking parallel AI coding capabilities

challenge

Cutting-edge tools, outdated processes

As a digital product agency working at the forefront of AI, we continually explore emerging dev tools to stay ahead of the curve. But with so many new AI coding assistants arriving on the scene, our team quickly found themselves frustrated by how poorly these incredible tools meshed with their existing workflow and stack. Each tool required its own setup, its own terminal, multiplying context-switching and fragmenting flow. IDEs, built for a single snapshot of a codebase at a time, couldn’t support true multi-agent, multi-branch orchestration. We needed a foundational environment that would evolve developer workflow for the AI age. So we decided to build it ourselves.

process

Using AI to build the tool that builds itself

Our idea was simple: let developers connect multiple AI assistants directly to their preferred IDE, then run those agents in parallel…no collisions, no clutter. We rapidly built an internal Alpha to unify our own parallel workflows, isolating branches to avoid collisions and keeping the coder-in-the-loop at every decision point. Then, we used it to build itself: testing, debugging, and refining the DevSwarm platform using DevSwarm. The benefits were immediate. Comparison became trivial, and shipping speed increased immediately, enabling us to deliver a polished Beta in record time.

solution

Parallel AI coding, without the chaos

DevSwarm seamlessly connects with six of today’s top-performing coding assistants (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Amazon Q, Aider, and Goose) and more than 14 IDEs, including VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and IntelliJ. In this cohesive Augmented Development Environment (ADE), developers can summon and compare multiple AI coding agents in the same project environment. No more bouncing between tools or managing endless tabs.

solution

Shipping a week’s worth of work, in one day

By integrating DevSwarm Alpha into our agency’s dev stack, we turbocharged our own build cycles. Our engineers used the platform to compare agent outputs, triage bugs, and even draft production code, enabling us to build Beta 5x faster than raw Claude Code.

solution

Swarm-ready by design

To eliminate context collisions and streamline productivity, DevSwarm includes zero port conflicts, smart repo management, single sign-on (Google/GitHub), live terminal and file view, and intelligent session handling. We designed every feature to keep engineers moving fast and thinking clearly.

solution

Bring-Your-Own Agent (BYO AI) as a principle

Lock-in kills innovation. DevSwarm was designed to be agent-flexible from day one, so developers can choose the best LLMs and agents for their needs, mixing and matching proprietary, open, and local models as the landscape evolves.

solution

From in-house passion project, to community accelerator

What started as an internal edge-case solution quickly became a platform for the broader developer community. DevSwarm is available for download for Mac and Windows, inviting velocity-obsessed engineers to help shape the future of parallel, AI-driven development.

We asked ourselves: what should the foundational tool for software development look like in the AI age? Most tools put AI inside your editor. We started from the ground up and reimagined the entire development environment around AI, not just as an add-on.

Mike Biglan

Founder & CEO at Twenty Ideas & DevSwarm

DevSwarm is different because it keeps the coder in the loop. You're always in control of the problem space: always guiding the process, always on the move.

Trevor Dilley

CTO at Twenty Ideas & DevSwarm