New IDE for C# (.NET): Feature Overview and First Impressions

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New IDE with C# (.NET) Support: A First Look at a Fresh Developer Tool

The world of .NET development has gained a new tool. Recently, a public release of an IDE codenamed «CodeFusion Studio» (working title) took place, promising to be a lightweight yet powerful alternative to Visual Studio and Rider. We tested the new product and are sharing our first impressions.

What is this IDE?

The project was created by a team of former JetBrains and Microsoft engineers. The main goal is to offer C# developers an environment that combines the speed of a code editor (like VS Code) with the depth of analysis characteristic of full-fledged IDEs. Currently, .NET 6, 7, and 8 are supported, and integration with .NET 9 is planned.

Key Features

Lightning-fast IntelliSense: Suggestions and autocompletion appear almost instantly, even in projects with hundreds of thousands of lines of code. The analysis system uses Roslyn caching at a new level.
Built-in Terminal and Git: The IDE integrates an advanced terminal with syntax highlighting and a visual tool for working with Git (staging, commits, file comparison).
Profiler for .NET: A built-in tool for performance measurement without the need for external utilities. It allows you to see memory allocations and bottlenecks in real time.
Smart Refactoring: In addition to standard actions (rename, extract method), the IDE offers automatic migration to new .NET API versions and replacement of deprecated constructs.
Support for Blazor and MAUI: Full syntax highlighting, navigation, and debugging for web and mobile projects.

First Impressions

After installation, the IDE launches in 3-4 seconds. The interface is minimalist, reminiscent of Fleet, but with elements from Visual Studio. It's pleasing that you don't need to create a separate project to start working — you can open a folder with code, and the environment will automatically determine the solution structure. Debugging works stably, breakpoints trigger correctly, and the «Watch» window updates without delays.

Who Will Find This Useful?

C# developers looking for a fast alternative to Visual Studio for everyday tasks.
Teams working with microservices on .NET — the lightweight nature of the IDE allows keeping several projects open simultaneously without performance loss.
Beginners: The simple interface and built-in syntax hints make the entry threshold low.

What Didn't We Like?

There is no support for extensions (plugins) yet — only basic functionality. Also, there is no built-in form designer for WinForms and WPF. The developers promise to add these features within six months. Additionally, the Linux version is currently in beta status.

Conclusion

The new IDE is a confident step towards a modern, fast, and convenient tool for C# (.NET). If you're tired of the «heaviness» of Visual Studio and don't want to pay for a Rider license, it's worth taking a closer look at this project. You can already download the free version (Community Edition) from the official website.

Stay tuned for updates on PythonLib — we will continue testing the new product and share hidden features in upcoming articles.