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TECH & AI
I Built a Full Apex IDE Inside a Chrome Extension (No Java, No Local Setup)
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The Problem with the Existing Apex Workflow

If you’ve done any meaningful Apex development, you know the drill:

Open Salesforce Developer Console (slow, clunky, no PMD)
Switch to VS Code + Salesforce Extension Pack (heavy, requires local setup)
Run PMD separately with a Java runtime (extra install, extra config)
Run tests via SFDX CLI (terminal required)
Repeat across orgs

Every step is friction. And if you’re working across multiple orgs or on a machine that isn’t fully set up, that friction compounds fast.

I wanted something simpler: open Chrome, open my Salesforce org, start coding.

What I Built

ApexForge is a Chrome extension that brings a full Apex development environment directly into your browser. No IDE. No CLI. No Java.

Here’s what it does:

📂 Apex File Explorer

Browse every Apex Class and Trigger in your connected org. Search, sort, open files in the editor, or jump to the Salesforce record page — all without leaving the extension.

✏️ Code Editor (VS Code-like)

A fully featured editor inside the popup:

Apex syntax highlighting (keywords, SOQL, methods)
Find (Ctrl+F) and Find & Replace (Ctrl+H)
Go to Line (Ctrl+G)
Minimap, Split View, Word Wrap
Format Document
Save & Deploy directly to your org
Refresh from org at any time

🔍 PMD Analysis — In the Browser, No Java Required

This was the hardest part to build. PMD normally requires a Java runtime and a JAR file. I ported 12 PMD rules across 6 categories to run entirely in JavaScript inside the extension:

Category
Rules

Performance
AvoidSoqlInLoops, AvoidDmlInLoops

Error Prone
AvoidHardcodingId, EmptyCatchBlock, NullAssignment

Best Practices
ApexUnitTestClassShouldHaveAsserts, AvoidGlobalModifier

Security
ApexSharingViolations, ApexCRUDViolation

Code Size
ExcessiveClassLength, TooManyFields

Design
AvoidDeeplyNestedIfStmts

Run analysis on a single file or scan your entire org in one pass. Click any violation to jump to that exact line in the editor.

▶ Apex Test Runner

Execute unit tests without opening a terminal:

Async execution via runTestsAsynchronous with a live progress bar
Sync execution via runTestsSynchronous for quick feedback
Auto-detects test classes by naming convention
Pass / Fail / Skip badges with stack traces
Code coverage visualisation — per test class and aggregate

💡 Apex Advisor

Real-time analysis as you type. Detects:

Bulkification issues
Missing sharing declarations
SOQL/SOSL/DML patterns
Method signature problems

Comes with auto-fix suggestions and code snippet templates.

Security & Privacy

I care about this a lot, especially since the extension touches Salesforce session data:

Session IDs stored in chrome.storage.local — encrypted by the OS keychain
All API calls use HTTPS — no plaintext
No data sent to any third-party server. Ever.
No analytics. No telemetry. No backend services.
Network access scoped only to *.salesforce.com and *.force.com

The editor runs in a sandboxed iframe
Your Apex code never leaves your browser except to your own Salesforce org

How It Works

Install ApexForge and pin it to your Chrome toolbar
Open any Salesforce app from the App Launcher
Click the ApexForge icon — it auto-detects your org from the active tab
Browse, edit, analyse, and test your Apex

The only requirement is a valid Salesforce Session ID (obtainable from Developer Console, DevTools, or SFDX CLI) and API access enabled on your org.

Why I’m Sharing This

I built this as a personal tool and kept making it better. At some point it felt like something the Salesforce developer community could genuinely use — especially for quick edits, code reviews on the go, or orgs where you can’t install a full local dev environment.

It’s free and open source.

🔗 Install ApexForge on the Chrome Web Store

🌐 apexforge.free.nf

If you work with Salesforce Apex regularly, give it a try. I’d love feedback — what rules are missing from the PMD analyser, what editor features you’d want, anything.

Drop a comment or reach out directly. Happy to discuss the technical implementation too if anyone’s curious how the browser-native PMD port works.



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TECH & AI
A 120B-model laptop, a federal AI bill, and free pro-grade editing: 3 shifts for builders
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Three things landed at once that change what you can run, ship, and edit on your own machine. Here’s the builder’s-eye view, with what (if anything) to do today.

1. Nvidia RTX Spark Superchip — a 120B-model PC on your desk

Nvidia unveiled the RTX Spark Superchip, a Windows-on-Arm platform: 20 Arm cores paired with a Blackwell GPU over NVLink, and 128GB of unified memory — enough to run 120B-parameter models with a 1-million-token context locally. Over 30 laptops, including a Surface Ultra, arrive in the fall.

Why it matters for builders: local big-model development stops being a server-rack thing. If you’ve been renting GPU time just to prototype against large models, the math changes this fall. Don’t rebuild your rig yet — wait for the actual hardware and benchmarks before you spend.

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/nvidia-unveils-rtx-spark-superchip-at-computex-2026-new-platform-promises-to-turn-windows-into-an-agentic-ai-os-with-arm-cpu-blackwell-gpu-and-128gb-unified-memory

2. The Great American AI Act

Congress unveiled a 269-page federal bill that would freeze state AI-development laws for three years. Frontier developers would report safety incidents to the government, a new Commerce AI center gets 100 million dollars a year, and impersonating officials with AI becomes a federal crime. It’s still a draft.

Why it matters for builders: if you ship AI products in the US, one federal rulebook beats a 50-state patchwork. But it’s a draft, so expect a fight in Congress. This is one to track, not act on yet.

Source: https://fedscoop.com/bipartisan-great-american-ai-act-draft-proposes-new-federal-ai-governance-framework/

3. DaVinci Resolve 21 — free pro editing + 8 AI tools

Blackmagic shipped DaVinci Resolve 21, adding a new Photo page (a direct Lightroom rival) plus eight AI tools like Magic Mask, UltraSharpen, and Face Age — mostly available in the free version.

Why it matters for builders: if you make thumbnails, demos, or launch videos solo, studio-grade photo and AI editing is now a free download. Pull it down and test the Photo page on your next thumbnail.

Source: https://www.cined.com/davinci-resolve-21-final-release-now-available-new-photo-page-expanded-ai-toolset-krokodove-in-fusion-and-wide-raw-support/

That’s the short version. I run a daily AI-news-for-builders short — full video here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SMKIl5TD-y8



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TECH & AI
AI Coding Tools 2026: Cursor vs GitHub Copilot vs Claude Code (Real Comparison)
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If you write code for a living, you’ve probably noticed that AI coding assistants went from “nice to have” to “non-negotiable” sometime in 2025. And by mid-2026, the market has clearly stratified into three tiers:

Best all-around: Cursor ($20/month)

Best for enterprise: GitHub Copilot ($10-20/month, often bundled with Copilot Pro)

Best for AI researchers & power users: Claude Code (free CLI, paid through Anthropic)

This article breaks down which tool actually wins for different workflows, based on real usage data from developers shipping products in 2026.

The Core Difference: Context Is Everything

Every AI coding tool does the same fundamental thing: it predicts the next characters you’ll type. But the quality of that prediction depends entirely on how much context the model can “see.”

GitHub Copilot looks at your current file + import statements.Cursor looks at your entire project — every file, folder structure, and dependencies.Claude Code looks at whatever you paste into it, but has 200K token context window (basically your entire codebase).

For fixing bugs in a 50-file codebase? Cursor and Claude win. For writing a quick script? Copilot is fine.

GitHub Copilot: The Safe Enterprise Choice

Price: $10-20/month depending on planBest for: Teams that already use GitHub, corporate environmentsTraining data: Trained on public GitHub (with opt-out available)

GitHub Copilot is the market leader by sheer distribution — it ships integrated into VS Code, and most Fortune 500 companies use it because IT departments trust GitHub (owned by Microsoft).

What it does well:

Fast completions, minimal lag
Works in every major IDE
Copilot Chat is genuinely useful for explaining code
Good for standard patterns (loops, API calls, data transformations)

Where it falls short:

Can’t “see” your full codebase — only the current file
Suggestions are sometimes generic (copy-pasted from Stack Overflow)
Limited context means it often suggests patterns that conflict with your project structure
Hallucination rate on complex refactoring is ~20-30%

Real-world example: You’re refactoring a database query that appears in 12 files. Copilot only sees the current file, so it might suggest a pattern that breaks consistency in the other 11. Cursor would see all 12 and maintain consistency.

Cost-benefit: $10-20/month is negligible for most developers. The real cost is context blindness.

Cursor: The Productivity Multiplier

Price: $20/month (or free with limited features)Best for: Solo developers, startups, anyone shipping fastBest feature: @codebase — indexes your entire project and uses it for context

Cursor is purpose-built for developers. It’s a full code editor (forked from VS Code) with Cursor-specific features. If you write code every day, this is the tool that will cut your shipping time.

What it does well:

@codebase command: Ask it “where is the user authentication logic?” and it finds it across 50 files
Multi-file refactoring with perfect consistency
Knows your project’s conventions and style
Excellent at generating test suites that actually pass first time
Built-in terminal lets you run code and iterate without context-switching

Where it falls short:

You have to switch editors (VS Code → Cursor)
Sometimes over-generates code when you only need a small fix
Context is limited to what fits in 200K tokens (still massive, but your codebase might exceed it)

Real-world example: You want to add a new feature to your API. You tell Cursor: “Add a /users/:id/settings endpoint that follows the same pattern as the /products/:id endpoint.” Cursor reads both endpoints, maintains the exact same error handling and middleware, and generates the new endpoint in 5 seconds. GitHub Copilot would need you to manually show it the /products endpoint first.

The workflow: Most developers using Cursor report 2-3x faster feature shipping. That compounds.

Claude Code: The Thinking Tool

Price: Free (Claude API costs extra)Best for: Complex refactoring, architectural decisions, learningBest feature: 200K token context window means it can ingest your entire codebase at once

Claude Code isn’t an IDE — it’s a CLI that lets you run Claude’s API on your local codebase. It’s the tool for the kind of coding that requires reasoning, not just pattern-matching.

What it does well:

Best reasoning about architecture and design patterns
Excellent at explaining why code is broken
Can analyze your entire codebase at once and suggest systemic improvements
Good for one-shot, high-stakes refactoring (e.g., “migrate this Django app to FastAPI”)

Where it falls short:

Not real-time — you have to explicitly invoke it
Requires API keys and pay-per-token pricing
No IDE integration (you edit in your normal editor, then run Claude Code separately)
Slower than Cursor for day-to-day coding

Real-world example: You want to refactor a 5-year-old codebase with inconsistent patterns. You run claude-code /path/to/repo –analyze and get a 10-page report on architectural debt, then ask it to generate a migration plan. GitHub Copilot can’t do this — Cursor could, but Claude Code is cheaper for one-off analysis.

The Verdict: Which Should You Use?

Tool
Price
Best For
Context
Speed

Cursor
$20/mo
Individual developers, shipping fast
Entire codebase
Real-time

GitHub Copilot
$10-20/mo
Enterprise teams, VS Code users
Current file only
Fast

Claude Code
Free + API
Architecture analysis, learning
Entire codebase
Slow (async)

If you’re a solo developer or in a startup: Use Cursor. The $20/month pays for itself in shipped features within a week.

If you’re in an enterprise: Use GitHub Copilot. Your IT department already approved it, and it’s integrated into your workflow.

If you’re optimizing a large codebase: Use Claude Code for analysis, then Cursor for implementation.

What’s Actually Changed in 2026

A year ago (2025), the choice was binary: Copilot or nothing. In 2026, we have three distinct tools competing for fundamentally different use cases. Cursor’s project-wide context is the biggest innovation — it’s what made the jump from “helpful” to “productivity multiplier.”

The consolidation will probably happen in 2027 when Microsoft integrates project context into Copilot (they’re definitely building it). Until then, Cursor has the edge for developers who ship fast.

Want to ship faster? Try Cursor free for 2 weeks. Most developers either commit or go back to Copilot within the trial period.

Full disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase Cursor through our links, we may earn a commission at no cost to you.



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