Cloud Parts

Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)Renamed

Codeium’s agentic fork of VS Code, bought by Cognition in July 2025 and renamed Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026.

What it is
Editors and terminals (code editors),AI coding agents
Part of
Fork of Visual Studio Code
Type
Commercial product
Made by
Cognition (formerly Codeium, then Windsurf)
License
Proprietary
Status
Renamed. Renamed Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026.
Facts checked
9 October 2026
Website

What it is

Windsurf began as Codeium’s answer to building AI into an editor it controlled. Codeium had sold AI extensions for many IDEs, but for its agent it forked VS Code, so it wasn’t limited by the extension API and didn’t have to rebuild an IDE’s internals. The Windsurf Editor launched in November 2024 with Cascade, an agent in the side panel that edits files, searches the codebase and runs commands while tracking what you do in the editor, plus Supercomplete, which predicts your next intent rather than just the next text at the cursor. Codeium renamed itself Windsurf in April 2025.

Ownership changed quickly after that. On July 11, 2025, with a reported $3 billion sale to OpenAI no longer going ahead, Windsurf announced that CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and some of its R&D team were joining Google, which also took a non-exclusive licence to Windsurf’s technology. Three days later Cognition, maker of the Devin cloud agent, signed a deal for the rest: the product, brand, IP and remaining staff, with $82 million of annual recurring revenue and over 350 enterprise customers.

Under Cognition, Windsurf 2.0 (April 2026) added the Agent Command Center, a Kanban board of local and cloud agents, and a button to hand a task to Devin. On June 2, 2026 the editor became Devin Desktop: the same IDE and settings, with the command center as the main view, Cascade replaced by the Devin Local agent, and support for any agent that speaks the Agent Client Protocol. windsurf.com now redirects to devin.ai.

Why teams pick it

  • Local and cloud agents in one place: plan locally, send a task to Devin, then review its pull request in the editor
  • Open to other agents through the Agent Client Protocol, so ACP-compatible agents run beside Devin
  • Keeps VS Code’s editor, keybindings and language server support, and imports VS Code or Cursor settings
  • Ships its own SSH remoting, since Microsoft’s Remote - SSH is licensed only for VS Code

Watch out for

  • Renamed and repositioned: since June 2, 2026 it ships as Devin Desktop under Cognition’s Devin brand, and the original Cascade agent is being replaced by Devin Local
  • Three upheavals in a year: the founders left for Google, Cognition bought the company, and the product was rebranded
  • Extensions come from an Open VSX mirror; Microsoft’s Remote - SSH extension conflicts with its own SSH support, which connects only to Linux hosts
  • Proprietary; on the Teams plan, Devin Desktop needs a full seat

More of the Visual Studio Code family

What all code editors have in common →
CursorCommercialForksThe best-known AI fork of VS Code, with agents, its own coding models and PR review built in; acquired by SpaceX in August 2026.VoidArchivedOpen sourceForksAn open-source, VS Code-based AI editor that sent prompts straight to any model provider; paused in August 2025 and deprecated and archived in June 2026.

How it fits with other technologies

See it in a real stack

No architecture uses Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) yet. Drop it into the playground and wire it up yourself.Open playground →
Where it came from2021–2026

The company began in 2021 as Exafunction, optimising GPU workloads for deep learning. In 2022 it renamed itself Codeium and moved up to the application layer, with AI coding extensions for as many IDEs as possible. Extensions were enough for autocomplete and chat, but not for the agent it wanted to build, which had to see both the codebase and what the developer was doing.

So Codeium took what it called “the somewhat-memed approach” of forking VS Code and launched the Windsurf Editor in November 2024, billing it as the first agentic IDE. It replaced the usual chat panel with Cascade, an agent that combined codebase knowledge, tools and awareness of the developer’s own actions. The editor became better known than the company, and in April 2025 Codeium renamed itself Windsurf.

In July 2025 the founders and part of the research team left for Google, which licensed Windsurf’s technology without buying the company. Within 72 hours Cognition, which made the Devin cloud agent, agreed to buy the rest; Cognition said its engineering strength and Windsurf’s sales organisation fit together, and that the products didn’t overlap. A year later the two were merged into one brand: in June 2026 Windsurf became Devin Desktop.

Why it’s built this way

Fork VS Code rather than ship another extension
Codeium said forking freed its user experience from the VS Code extension API while sparing it from rebuilding the core of an IDE.
Replace chat with an agent
The team believed an agent that could iterate on its own, Cascade, was strictly more capable than a chat panel, so it removed chat altogether.
Keep plugins for other IDEs
Other IDEs had features the Windsurf Editor lacked, such as IntelliJ’s Java debuggers, so the AI engine was built not to depend on the Windsurf Editor; the extensions live on as the Windsurf Plugins.
Make agent management the main view
Cognition argued that engineers increasingly manage many local and cloud agents rather than pair with one, so Devin Desktop puts the Agent Command Center first and keeps the full IDE behind it.

Timeline

  1. 2021

    Founded as Exafunction, a GPU infrastructure company

  2. 2022

    Renamed Codeium; ships AI coding extensions for many IDEs

  3. 2024

    Windsurf Editor, a fork of VS Code, launches in November with the Cascade agent

  4. 2025

    Codeium renames itself Windsurf in April

  5. 2025

    July: founders join Google; Cognition agrees to acquire Windsurf

  6. 2026

    Windsurf 2.0 in April adds the Agent Command Center and Devin

  7. 2026

    Renamed Devin Desktop on June 2

Sources13 · facts checked 9 October 2026

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