The motivation behind RunCode has been driven with the immense fascination of making lives of the code-indulgent folks simpler! This has led us on a fulfilling journey to develop and introduce our Platform - RunCode. We're excited to announce that our vision centering on the desire to "Grant developers the superpowers" - has come to reality.

RunCode has been in the works for years and has undergone many phases of development, prior to its launch as an online coding workspace. At its inception, RunCode was intended to serve as an online code compiler, then a virtual desktop for users, before it finally became what it is today.

The actual journey of RunCode began in 2019. It all started when a team of 30 members were developing products using different languages like flutter, angular, node js, react, python, and flask. Things were going well at first, but we quickly realized that something was amiss and impeding our progress. We started our journey by taking the help of the existing code editors to manage the work. From Emacs to Vim to Pycharm to Sublime to atom to VS code we explored every available option in order to find a platform that supports the diversity in the preferences of the developers.

At that time, about 20% of the team was working from remote locations and that in itself was a big challenge. We were worried about ensuring a proper work environment for everyone while also promoting business growth. That is when the Founder and CEO conceived the start-up idea of RunCode. The idea wasn't directly made into a reality, though. At first, we started with a realistic step to explore similar existing platforms. In the process, we used VNC server and Raspberry pi but the solutions proved to be inadequate. As the next step, we also researched x11 and wayland. Furthermore, we attempted to use Gitpod but found it to be extremely expensive.

It is then we started thinking of a solution to create a cloud-based development environment. The aim was to empower ourselves by creating a platform through which we can establish a remote connection to work better. Thereby, needing a robust system, which would also be cost-effective. Hence, we took the next logical step and tried a Proof of Concept (POC) and we realized that there is a huge boost in developer productivity. As everything was running on a server, it produced excellent results. It is after that point that we got engaged in the process of developing our internal product.

We built a system which can cater to every requirement of a developer, while ensuring cost effectiveness. With endless brainstorming and relentless hard work, we finally developed a system and changed its whole architecture multiple times to improve performance, security and stability of the platform. In order to render the platform robust in all directions, we started with the tech stack consisting of miniO, KVM, django, and PostgreSQL.

Today, we're thrilled to announce that runcode.io has taken the potential pitfalls into account by assisting developers to get started at the click of a button with our pre-configured workspaces and collaborate in real-time. We developed RunCode to improve the workflows for developers and while we’ve many other exciting features in this particular release, Team RunCode is committed to enhancing the overall platform performance and quality, and continue on our vision to “provide developers the superpowers”. We believe you’ll love the capabilities of RunCode.

Go forth and (Run)Code!!

Aaaaaand let us know your thoughts!

Ashwin Kumar

Founder & CEO

RunCode.Inc