JetBrains launches ThinkRail, an agentic IDE that gives each coding agent its own git worktree
Synopsis
JetBrains released ThinkRail, an agentic IDE built around the pi coding agent, and puts each task in its own git worktree cut from the repository, with a separate branch and working directory, so several agents work in parallel without touching the user's checkout. Project intent persists across sessions through a connected graph of SPEC.md files beside the code, which the agent reads, searches and maintains with dedicated tools; workspaces settle onto a per-project shelf when their pull request merges or closes, or after a quiet week. The stated next step is full extension support, so ThinkRail can create the tools it needs from how the user actually works.
Interpretation
A coding agent no longer edits the checkout the user is working in; each task runs in a separate git worktree cut from the repository, with its own branch and working directory. The stated scope is that agents work in parallel without touching the user's checkout, the user merges the good branch and deletes the rest, and can also attach existing worktrees or explicitly work in the project folder itself. ThinkRail opens any git repository as a project and cuts workspaces from it; the shown interface is a pi session and the change it made, scoped to an isolated git-worktree workspace.
Project intent survives the session because a connected graph of SPEC.md files sits beside the code and the agent reads, searches and maintains it through dedicated spec_* tools. The public description frames this as intent surviving the session rather than living only inside a single session. A read-only Specs tool renders the graph as a tree in the workbench for people to inspect.
The agent reaches beyond the shell: it does web research, asks the user structured multiple-choice questions in the chat instead of guessing, and renders inline diagrams, option comparisons and file previews in the chat. When the agent proposes a UI change it shows a before/after mockup that can be commented on like a diff, rather than only a text description. Settings lists the ThinkRail extensions the agent gets and lets each be switched off, and installs any pi package by source (npm, git or a local folder), showing what each adds and letting packages, their extensions and skills, and pi's built-ins be toggled.
Perspective
The demonstrated scope is a desktop IDE around the pi coding agent: git worktree workspace isolation, a Monaco editor workbench, concurrent chats, the SPEC.md knowledge graph, portable Agent Skills, MCP server connections and extension management. It targets developers working in git repositories, and the stated next step is full extension support so ThinkRail can create the tools it needs from how the user actually works.
The public description lists full extension support as a next step and does not describe its form; workspaces settle onto a shelf when their pull request merges or closes, or after a quiet week, and the exact boundaries of that behavior are not expanded in the available information.