How to Set Up and Use Google Antigravity (2026 Complete Guide)

Picture having five developers working on your project at the same time. One is refactoring your backend. One is writing tests. One is debugging the login flow. One is updating the docs. And one is opening your app in a browser to verify everything works. Now imagine all five of those developers are AI agents you can direct with a single sentence. That is Google Antigravity, and it launched in November 2025 to change how developers build software.

This guide walks you through everything: what Google Antigravity is, how it compares to other AI tools, how to set it up step by step, how to use its key features, and what the pricing looks like in 2026.

Quick Answer 

Google Antigravity is a free AI-powered code editor by Google, launched November 2025. It runs up to five AI agents in parallel on your project at the same time. Download it free at antigravity.google/download with a personal Gmail account. No credit card needed.

What is Google Antigravity?

Google Antigravity is an agent-first IDE. IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment, which is just the app you write code in. But Google Antigravity is not just a code editor with a chatbot bolted on. It is a platform where AI agents actively plan, write code, run terminal commands, open a browser to test your app, and report back with visual results.

Google announced it on November 18, 2025, alongside Gemini 3. You can read the original launch post on the Google Developers Blog. It entered public preview the same day and is available free on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The big idea is simple: previous AI coding tools made you a faster writer. Google Antigravity makes you a director. You stop typing functions and start giving directives. Multiple agents handle the work in parallel while you review their progress.

Thought to ponder: A film director does not hold the camera and act at the same time. An architect does not pour the concrete. At what point does a developer’s job shift from writing code to directing agents?

Hint: Google Antigravity is betting that moment is now. Your most valuable skill in the agent era is judgment, not typing speed. Knowing what to build, catching what the agent got wrong, and steering the mission in the right direction. That is a genuine shift.

Google Antigravity vs Other AI Coding Tools

The main difference is scale and parallelism. Every other tool gives you one AI assistant. Google Antigravity gives you a whole team of agents working simultaneously on different parts of your project.

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Key Features of Google Antigravity

Here is what sets Google Antigravity apart from every other AI coding tool available in 2026.

1. Two Views: Editor and Manager

Google Antigravity has two completely different ways to work, and you can switch between them any time.

• Editor View: Your standard coding environment. Tab autocompletion, inline AI suggestions, a chat sidebar, and a diff viewer for reviewing changes. If you have used VS Code or Cursor, this feels identical.
• Manager View (Mission Control): Where you run agents. You define a mission, assign agents to subtasks, watch their progress in real time, and review the artifacts they produce. This is the part no other tool has.
• Switching: Click the icon in the left sidebar to toggle. Most developers start a big task in Manager View and drop into Editor View for precise fixes.

2. Missions and Parallel Agents

A mission is a plain-English goal you give the platform. Think of it like a task brief you would hand to a team.

• Example mission: “Build a user authentication system with email and Google login, write unit tests, and check that the login form works in the browser.”
• What happens: Google Antigravity breaks it into subtasks and assigns up to five agents at once. Each agent has access to your editor, terminal, and the built-in browser.
• Agents do not just suggest: They actually execute code, run commands, test results, and report back.

Riddle: You give Google Antigravity a mission: “Add a dark mode toggle.” Agent 1 updates the CSS. Agent 2 writes the toggle component. Agent 3 opens the browser to test it and finds a bug: the toggle saves the preference but does not apply it on page reload. Who fixes the bug?

Answer: You decide. You can fix it yourself in Editor View or assign it back to an agent as a follow-up. That is the core workflow: agents work in parallel, report findings, you stay in control as the director.

3. Artifacts: Visual Progress Reports

Agents do not just produce code. They produce artifacts, which are visual reports that show you exactly what they did and why.

• Task plan: What the agent intends to do before it starts. Review this before approving.
• Implementation plan: How the agent approached the problem after completing the work.
• Screenshots: The agent captures your running app from the built-in browser at each step.
• Browser recordings: A step-by-step recording of the agent clicking through your UI.
• Commenting: Leave feedback directly on any artifact, like commenting on a Google Doc. The agent incorporates it without stopping.

4. Built-In Browser

Google Antigravity ships with a built-in Chrome-based browser that agents control directly.

• What it does: An agent opens your app, clicks through user journeys, and takes screenshots at each step.
• Why it matters: Instead of manually testing after every change, the agent verifies things for you and hands you visual proof.
• When it helps most: Frontend development, UI testing, and any feature that needs to be validated in a real browser, not just in code.

5. AgentKit 2.0 (Released March 2026)

In March 2026, Google released AgentKit 2.0, which significantly expanded what agents can do.

• 16 specialised agents covering specific development tasks
• 40+ domain-specific skills including frontend, backend, testing, debugging, SEO, and database management
• 11 pre-configured commands for common workflows
• AGENTS.md support (added v1.20.3, March 5, 2026): a file you create in your project root to give agents standing instructions and preferences

6. MCP Support

Google Antigravity added Model Context Protocol (MCP) support in early 2026.

• What MCP does: Connects agents to external services like GitHub, databases, and APIs.
• How to set it up: Follows the same MCP configuration pattern as other tools. If you have used MCP before, it works identically here.
• Why it matters: Agents can pull real-time data from outside your codebase, making them far more useful on complex projects.

7. Multi-Model Support

One of Google Antigravity’s biggest practical advantages is that you get multiple AI models in one tool.

You can assign different models to different agents within the same mission. Use Gemini 3 Flash for quick tasks and Claude Opus for complex ones, all without switching tools or paying separate subscriptions.

How to Set Up Google Antigravity: Step by Step

Follow these six steps to go from zero to your first running mission.

Step 1: Check What You Need

Make sure you have everything before downloading.

If you want Google’s official walkthrough alongside this guide, the Getting Started codelab is a helpful companion.

Step 2: Download Google Antigravity

• Go to antigravity.google/download in your browser
• Select your operating system: macOS, Windows, or Linux
• Download the installer file for your platform:

• Run the installer and follow the prompts. Installation takes a few minutes.

Step 3: Launch and Sign In

• Open the app after installation
• Sign in with your personal Gmail account when prompted
• Complete any Google account verification steps

After signing in, a short setup flow begins. You will see two choices:

• Import from VS Code or Cursor: Brings over your themes, extensions, and key bindings. Choose this if you already use either tool.
• Fresh Start: Starts with default settings. Good if you are new to this kind of editor.

Step 4: Choose Your Theme and Configure Agent Settings

First, pick a visual theme. Dark or light, your preference. You can change it anytime later via Cmd + , (macOS) or Ctrl + , (Windows/Linux).

Next, configure the two most important agent behaviour settings:

Terminal Permissions: Controls whether agents auto-run commands or ask first.

Artifact Review Policy: Controls when agents ask for your approval.

Start with Request Review on both settings. You can loosen them once you understand what agents typically do.

Step 5: Open Your Project

• Use File > Open Folder to open an existing project folder
• Or create a new empty folder and open it if you are starting from scratch
• Google Antigravity reads your existing code and uses it as context for every agent you run

The agents understand your project structure, function names, and coding patterns from the files already there. The more organised your project, the better the agents perform.

Step 6: Run Your First Mission

• Click the Manager View icon in the left sidebar to open Mission Control
• Type your first mission in the input field at the top
• Start simple. Here is a good first mission to try:

“Look at this project and tell me what it does. Create a task list of what would need to be added to make it production ready.”

• Review the artifact the agent returns before approving any next steps
• Once comfortable, work up to multi-step missions with parallel agents

Google Antigravity Pricing

Google Antigravity launched completely free in November 2025. Limits were tightened in December 2025 and a credit system was introduced in March 2026. Here is where things stand today.

What to choose:

• Beginners and students: Start with the free tier. It is enough to learn the full workflow.
• Daily professional use: The free tier hits limits within a few hours of intensive work. Pro at $20/month is the practical upgrade.
• Teams and heavy users: Ultra at $249.99/month is for developers who run agents constantly across large codebases.

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Tips for Getting the Best Results

• Start narrow: Give agents one specific, well-defined task first. “Refactor this function to handle null inputs” beats “improve my codebase.”
• Create an AGENTS.md file: Go to File > New File, name it AGENTS.md, and put it in your project root. Write your coding standards, preferences, and any standing rules for agents. This makes every mission work in your style.
• Review artifacts before approving: Always read the task plan before an agent starts. Two minutes of review prevents hours of fixing incorrect work.
• Use Editor View for precise fixes: Manager View for big tasks, Editor View for single-line changes.
• Restart for long sessions: The context window grows during long sessions and causes slowdowns. Start a fresh mission window to fix this. It is a known issue Google is working on.
• Keep credentials out of project files: Agents read your files and send context to Google’s cloud. Store API keys and passwords in environment variables outside the project directory.

Conclusion

Google Antigravity is a genuine step forward in AI coding tools. Five parallel agents, a built-in browser for testing, multi-model support, and Mission Control for managing it all make it unlike anything else available in 2026.

The free tier is risk-free. Head to antigravity.google/download, sign in with your Gmail, open a project, and run your first mission. See what it feels like to watch agents work on your code while you review their progress from Mission Control.

If you find yourself hitting the free tier limits, Pro at $20/month is competitive with every other AI coding tool on the market and brings reliable daily use.

Start free. Learn the workflow. Upgrade when you are ready.

FAQs

1. Is Google Antigravity free to use?

Yes. There is a free tier with no credit card required. Sign in with a personal Gmail and get rate-limited access to all models. For intensive daily use, Pro at $20/month (approximately Rs. 1,680) gives you higher limits and built-in credits.

2. What is the difference between Google Antigravity and GitHub Copilot?

GitHub Copilot is an inline code assistant. It helps you write code faster, one suggestion at a time. Google Antigravity runs multiple autonomous agents in parallel that plan, write, test, and verify code across your editor, terminal, and browser all at once. They are different tools for different needs.

3. Do I need coding experience to use Google Antigravity?

Some coding knowledge helps. You need to read and review what agents produce, catch mistakes, and understand the code you are shipping. Complete beginners can explore it, but developers with basic coding experience get significantly more value.

4. Which AI models does Google Antigravity support?

As of April 2026: Gemini 3.1 Pro, Gemini 3 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Opus 4.6, and GPT-OSS 120B. You can assign different models to different agents within the same mission.

5. Can I use my existing VS Code settings with Google Antigravity? 

Yes. During setup, it offers to import your VS Code or Cursor settings including themes, key bindings, and most extensions. Since it is built on a VS Code fork, almost everything transfers without any changes.