The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world’s largest open source software foundations, has announced two advancements in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered open source development platforms and Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). Contributed by EclipseSource, a contributor in AI-native tool development, these innovations include:
- Theia AI (public release) – an open framework that allows tool builders to integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) of their choice into custom tools and IDEs, enabling agentic workflows, context-aware AI suggestions and intelligent assistance tailored to their unique needs.
- AI-powered Theia IDE (alpha release) – An open source software development environment built on the Theia AI framework, delivering advanced AI capabilities designed to enhance developer productivity with full control.
“Proprietary AI development platforms are locking developers and tool builders into inflexible, opaque and single vendor ecosystems,” said Mike Milinkovich, the executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “With Theia AI, we are putting control back in the hands of developers, enabling them to integrate AI on their own terms—fully open, extensible and adaptable to their needs. Whether building custom AI-driven tools or leveraging the Theia IDE with built-in AI support, Theia AI ensures that developers remain in control of their data, workflows and strategic direction.”
Theia AI open framework: AI integration on your terms
As part of the Eclipse Theia tool platform, Theia AI is an open source framework that gives tool builders full control over how AI is integrated into their tool products. It empowers developers to manage every aspect of AI capabilities, from selecting the most suitable LLM—whether it’s cloud-based, self-hosted, or fully local—to orchestrating the entire prompt engineering flow, defining agentic behaviours, and determining which data and knowledge sources are used. This level of customisation ensures full transparency and adaptability, enabling developers to fine-tune AI interactions to perfectly align with their needs.
Tool developers have complete freedom to design their tool’s AI-driven user experience exactly as they envision it. Whether it’s through creating interactive chat interfaces, integrating AI into code editors, or crafting fully customised UI elements, Theia AI provides the flexibility to bring these ideas to life. By streamlining complex AI integration challenges, Theia AI enables tool builders to develop advanced, tailor-made AI capabilities that go beyond the current state of the art, perfectly aligning with the unique demands of their domain.
After extensive beta testing and adoption in real-world applications, Theia AI is now publicly available, empowering developers and tool builders to create state-of-the-art capabilities tailored to their domain-specific needs. Learn more in the Theia AI release announcement.
AI-powered Theia IDE: Revolutionising developer workflows with AI
Built on the Theia AI framework, the AI-powered Theia IDE demonstrates the potential of AI-enhanced development workflows, while maintaining user control and transparency. Now available in Alpha, Theia IDE introduces powerful AI-driven features to:
- Boost developer productivity – Intelligent coding agents, AI-powered terminal support and context-sensitive assistants streamline coding tasks while giving developers full control over AI interactions.
- Enable flexible LLM selection – Connect to any AI model—cloud-hosted, self-hosted or fully local—allowing developers to maintain full control, flexibility and adaptability to emerging models without vendor constraints.
- Integrate with external tools and contextual data – Through Model Contextual Protocol (MCP) integration, developers can connect AI-driven workflows with external tools, services and contextual data, enhancing automation and interoperability within the development environment.
- Ensure open source licence compliance – The SCANOSS integration analyses AI-generated code for open source licencing compliance, helping developers mitigate legal and operational risks when incorporating AI-generated code.
Empowering developers with full control and transparency
Unlike proprietary solutions, the AI-powered Theia IDE gives developers full transparency and control over AI interactions. They can easily tweak and adapt AI behaviour, while maintaining full visibility into AI processes and interactions. With powerful features like customisable prompts, flexible LLM selection and transparent data exchange, Theia IDE redefines AI-assisted software development by putting developers firmly in control. This level of customisation not only empowers developers to tailor AI to their unique needs but also encourages collaborative innovation. By working in the open, developers can refine, extend and actively contribute to the evolution of AI-driven development environments, ensuring continuous improvement and adaptability.
Learn more in the AI-powered Theia IDE alpha release announcement.
Why Theia AI and Theia IDE Matter
With the rise of proprietary AI solutions, the need for open, adaptable and transparent AI development tools is more critical than ever. Theia AI and Theia IDE not only provide powerful AI capabilities but also champion the values of openness, control and community-driven innovation.
These advancements position the Eclipse Foundation at the forefront of the next generation of AI development tools, offering a powerful alternative to closed ecosystems.
Get started with Theia AI and Theia IDE
Both Theia AI and the AI-powered Theia IDE are now available. Developers, tool builders and organisations interested in exploring these next-generation AI capabilities can learn more by visiting the Eclipse Theia project page.
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