Phoenix Code

Phoenix Code is a free, open-source Text Editors and web development platform. Originally created by Adobe Inc. in 2012 as Brackets—a lightweight code editor built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript under the MIT License—the project was officially sunsetted by Adobe on September 1, 2021. The core engineering team behind Brackets subsequently established Core.ai Scientific Technologies Private Limited to continue stewardship of the codebase, releasing Phoenix Code as the official open-source community successor to Brackets.

Visual Live Preview & Design Mode

Phoenix Code expands Brackets' original inline editing and Live Preview capabilities with a visual editing environment called Design Mode. Rather than requiring developers to toggle repeatedly between source code and an external browser window, the editor renders web pages in real time, allowing users to edit text, swap visual assets, and adjust layouts directly on the rendered canvas. A visual Styles Bar provides direct controls for fonts, colors, spacing, and CSS layout parameters, writing modified styles directly back to the underlying source code files.

Dedicated Markdown Editor & Content Authoring

The editor incorporates a dedicated Markdown editing interface for creating documentation, technical notes, and structured content. Users can edit Markdown visually or view raw markup text, with native support for embedded images, tables, code blocks, and diagrams. The platform includes a reader mode and export capabilities for generating PDF documents directly from Markdown source files.

Developer Workspaces & Code Intelligence

Phoenix Code includes code intelligence features—such as smart completion, definition lookups, usage tracking, and syntax error checking—across JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, PHP, JSON, HTML, and CSS. Additional workspace tools include a multi-file search engine, an integrated Git version control panel, and a built-in multi-tab terminal supporting custom shell configurations.

Platform Availability, Extensions, & Pro Capabilities

Distributed under a free Community Edition, Phoenix Code operates as a web-based editor (web.phcode.dev) and as native desktop applications across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS. The platform maintains compatibility with an extension registry containing thousands of community-developed plugins and UI themes. An optional commercial tier (Phoenix Pro) introduces AI-assisted coding capabilities powered by Claude Code, which analyzes both raw source code and rendered browser DOM runtime context using customer-provided API credentials.