Standardide

Standardide is a proposed, language-agnostic standard for integrated development environments (IDEs) intended to improve interoperability among IDEs, extensions, and tooling. The goal is to define a common set of interfaces and data formats that enable editors, debuggers, build systems, and language services to interoperate across platforms and vendors.

Key concepts include a standard project model, a uniform extension manifest, a core editor API, a debugger protocol, and UI/UX guidelines. The project model specifies how files, configurations, and tasks are described; the extension manifest defines capabilities and permissions; the editor API provides common editing, navigation, and refactoring operations; the debugger protocol standardizes life cycle events, breakpoints, and console I/O; UI guidelines cover theming, commands, and floating panels.

Architecturally, standardide envisions a lean, versioned core with optional, language- or tool-specific adapters. Communications are designed to be language-agnostic, using well-defined message formats (for example JSON-based requests) and secure extension sandboxes to isolate third-party plugins.

Status and adoption: standardide remains a draft initiative within open standards communities as of the mid-2020s. It has inspired several experimental projects and pilot integrations, but no major IDE vendors have announced full support. Governance is provided by an international consortium focused on interoperability, accessibility, and safety.

Relation to existing ecosystems: standardide does not aim to replace proprietary plugin architectures but to provide a common ground that enables cross-IDE tooling, while leveraging established protocols such as the Language Server Protocol where appropriate. See also: integrated development environment, language server protocol, plugin architecture, cross-IDE tooling.