Inside the Box: First Big Community Update of 2024
Tags: webdev, cde, product, community
Published: 2024-02-15 08:18:34

Hello! Is there anybody out there? 👋

We know it's been a while since the last newsletter but we've been busy bees during the last two months! The good news is that sharing so many great things in this one makes it even more exciting. A big release, a lot of new features and everything in between!

Let's discover what we baked since our last newsletter!

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# Latest Product News

[CodeSandbox CDE](https://codesandbox.io/blog/introducing-codesandbox-cde) ☁️ — In our biggest launch since v1, in January we released CodeSandbox CDE, the cloud development experience we've been building for over 2 years (which started with "Projects" in 2022).

 <a href="https://codesandbox.io/blog/introducing-dev-container-support-in-codesandbox" target="_blank">
<img height="auto" src="https://assets.codesandbox.io/emails/2024/01/fast-branching.gif" https: style="border:0;display:block;outline:none;text-decoration:none;height:auto;width:100%;" width="560">

In a nutshell, CodeSandbox CDE brings dedicated cloud environments for every branch & PR that spin up in 2 seconds and are available and collaborative 24/7.

[Usage-based billing & plan updates](https://codesandbox.io/pricing) 🪙 With the launch of CodeSandbox CDE, we updated our plans and billing model to meet the needs of cloud development. We've brought nearly all our Pro features to the Free plan and introduced usage-based billing, so Pro workspaces will be billed for what they use instead of how many people exist in the workspace.

[VM tiers & usage monitoring](https://codesandbox.io/docs/learn/credit-usage/credits) ⚡ — You can now choose the VM specs that run your Devboxes and repositories. There are six tiers to choose from: you can go up to 4 vCPUs + 8 GB RAM in Free, 16 vCPUs + 32 GB RAM in Pro, and 64 vCPUs + 128 GB RAM in Enterprise. We also introduced a VM Settings page where you can monitor and control VM usage.

[Live sessions in Devboxes](https://twitter.com/danilowoz/status/1755636863098892708) 📺 — You can now run live coding sessions right from your browser, powered by our VMs, both in Free and Pro plans. A live session allows you to start a live collaborative coding session with others, which is especially useful for education, interviews and hackathons.

![Live sessions in CodeSandbox](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2t6mmna8ueprvdwb0112.jpg)

[AI autocomplete in Sandboxes](https://codesandbox.io/docs/learn/ai/codeium) 🤖 — Many of our users have asked for autocomplete features similar to those offered by Copilot. So, we have extended our [Codeium integration to Sandboxes](https://codesandbox.io/blog/introducing-ai-code-autocomplete-powered-by-codeium). Users in our Free plan get 100 Codeium insertions in their code per month, and users in Pro get unlimited.

![Codeium autocomplete in CodeSandbox sandboxes](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0gcqruk04pbk8mi0e9kt.jpg)

[Unified Platform](https://codesandbox.io/blog/introducing-a-unified-development-platform) 🚀 — Probably our biggest launch of 2023, our Unified Platform introduced Devboxes (instant cloud environments running in our VM infrastructure) and brought the biggest overhaul to Sandboxes in 5 years. Watch the [AMA live stream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKQjjWQrSNs) with the team for all the details.

![CodeSandbox create modal](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/bu1lfvwe9gtbtkursxmj.jpg)

[Full Changelog](https://codesandbox.io/changelog) 📜 — As we mentioned, we shipped many things recently. Be sure to check the latest changelog and the updates from [December](https://codesandbox.io/changelog/2023-12-05-unified-platform-codeium-vs-code-editor). And don't miss the changelog [walkthrough video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAwAm-qL1oU) with our Head of Product, Neco.

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# Meet Us @ Events

[Developer Onboarding](https://lu.ma/cde-onboarding) - Before and After CDEs — Developer onboarding... is not great. However, cloud development environments seek to make onboarding much easier and faster: down from days to hours. In this live stream, [Christian Alfoni](https://twitter.com/AlfoniChristian), [Danilo Woznika](https://twitter.com/danilowoz/) and [Alex Moldovan](https://twitter.com/alexnmoldovan) will show some of the typical pains of getting onboarded as a developer and how CodeSandbox CDE makes it a much better experience. Register [here](https://lu.ma/cde-onboarding). 

<a href="https://lu.ma/cde-onboarding" target="_blank">
<img height="auto" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/assets.codesandbox.io/emails/inside-the-box/6/CDEStorynext.jpg" https: style="border:0;display:block;outline:none;text-decoration:none;height:auto;width:100%;" width="560">

[DevWorld Conference](https://devworldconference.com/tracks/backend-world) — Our backend engineer, [Sanne](https://twitter.com/sannekalkman), will speak in Amsterdam at DevWorld Conference about "Elixir: Happy Developers and Scaleable Backends". The conference takes place on February 29th & March 1st!

<a href="https://devworldconference.com/tracks/backend-world" target="_blank">
<img height="auto" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/assets.codesandbox.io/emails/inside-the-box/6/Sane_DevWorld.png" https: style="border:0;display:block;outline:none;text-decoration:none;height:auto;width:100%;" width="560">

[FOSDEM](https://fosdem.org/2024/) — At the beginning of the month, our Engineering Manager & DevRel, [Ioana](https://twitter.com/ioana_cis), moderated a DevRoom at FOSDEM - the largest conference dedicated to Free and Open Source Developers in Europe. Have you been around? What's your favorite devroom there?

<a href="https://twitter.com/ioana_cis/status/1754210627617218613" target="_blank">
<img height="auto" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/assets.codesandbox.io/emails/inside-the-box/6/Ioana_fosdem.png" https: style="border:0;display:block;outline:none;text-decoration:none;height:auto;width:100%;" width="560">

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# Web Bytes

[The State of CDEs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVTf4kN-e0): post-survey panel — Recently, we surveyed 2200+ software developers and engineering leaders to uncover how CDEs are used today, their main benefits, adoption challenges, and future perspectives. We discussed the key findings from the final report with a panel of founders, engineering leaders, and software developers.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVTf4kN-e0" target="_blank">
<img height="auto" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/assets.codesandbox.io/emails/inside-the-box/6/StateCDE.png" https: style="border:0;display:block;outline:none;text-decoration:none;height:auto;width:100%;" width="560">

[CodeSandbox blog](https://codesandbox.io/blog?) 📰 — We wrote a lot in the last couple of months! A special mention goes to "[Are CDEs Coming to Replace Local Development?](https://codesandbox.io/blog/are-cdes-coming-to-replace-local-development)", "[The History of State Management at CodeSandbox](https://codesandbox.io/blog/the-history-of-state-management-at-codesandbox)", and a unique opinion article by our Co-Founder Ives, "[Why I Code in the Cloud](https://codesandbox.io/blog/why-i-code-in-the-cloud)".

[Live demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho7yAeVCp6w): Doing Professional Development in the Cloud — A trio of CodeSandbox engineers took the virtual stage to showcase what it's like to do professional development using a cloud environment. If you didn't catch it live, check out [the recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho7yAeVCp6w)!

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# Community Spotlight

Each Friday, we try to share on social media some of the projects that our community works on. In this edition, besides the ✨ Community Spotlight ✨ we are highlighting a **CodeSandbox Friend** too.

Spotlight - [Dev Portal Awards](https://devportalawards.org/winners) — The DX breakthroughs implemented by react.dev, powered by a collaboration with CodeSandbox, won the [Dev Portal Award for DX](https://twitter.com/rachelnabors/status/1725180862495359158)! The React docs also won best [API Reference documentation](https://twitter.com/rachelnabors/status/1729914286489633128). We couldn't be more proud of this partnership!

<a href="https://devportalawards.org/winners" target="_blank">
<img height="auto" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/assets.codesandbox.io/emails/inside-the-box/6/DevPortalAwards.png" https: style="border:0;display:block;outline:none;text-decoration:none;height:auto;width:100%;" width="560">


[CodeSandbox Friends](https://codesandbox.io/docs/learn/plans/codesandbox-friends) - [Preact](https://github.com/preactjs/preact) — Preact is a fantastic open-source project using CodeSandbox for reproductions and demos. We are more than happy to support it through our [CodeSandbox Friends](https://codesandbox.io/docs/learn/plans/codesandbox-friends) program.

But wait, what are [CodeSandbox Friends](https://codesandbox.io/docs/learn/plans/codesandbox-friends)? We're glad you asked! 😅 It is a program through which we offer free or low-cost access to CodeSandbox for eligible projects. We believe in the power of Open Source and we want to support non-profits making a positive impact on the world.

We really love seeing what you build using CodeSandbox. So do share with us what you're working on or which insights you would like to hear from us.

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# Big Thank You 🖤💚💜️

We hope you enjoyed this issue of Inside the Box! We had a lot to share from the last two months and many activities or updates did not make it. So we encourage you to keep following us on social channels.

We are curious about what you feel is missing from these newsletters and what you would like us to add to the next one!

What should we bring next? Tell us on our [community space](https://www.codesandbox.community/c/start-here)!

PS: Did you catch the easter egg on the intro? It's our humble shout-out to "[Is There Anybody Out There?](https://open.spotify.com/track/2rKcC5vlTsDM94RWTPoyHV)" by Pink Floyd.