An integrated development environment (IDE) is a suite of all basic tools needed to write and test software. The development lifecycle typically includes many tools for creating, building, and testing code, such as text editors, compilers, testing platforms, and code libraries.
An IDE consolidates all development tools into a single framework, service, or application, so developers do not have to choose, integrate, deploy, and manage numerous tools separately. It provides an integrated toolset designed to simplify the software development process.
The output of an IDE is generally code that is then committed to a tool that begins the Continuous Integration process, adding in the other elements and dependencies required for a running application.