For 30 years, the first week of a new engineer's job was "Environment Setup." Installing Node, fighting with Docker versions, configuring local databases, and praying the seed script works.
At elitics.io, this practice is banned. We have moved to 100% Cloud Development Environments (CDEs).
The Laptop is Just a Thin Client
Why compile code on a overheating MacBook Air when you can compile it on a 128-core server instance that spins up in 3 seconds?
Local Dev
- • "It works on my machine" bugs
- • 4-hour onboarding time
- • Source code exists on stolen laptops
- • Limited by local RAM/CPU
Cloud Dev
- • Environment matches Prod 1:1
- • 5-second onboarding (Click URL)
- • Zero code exfiltration risk
- • Infinite compute scaling
Security: The Source Code Never Leaves the Vault
In a remote-first world, shipping laptops to contractors is a security nightmare. With CDEs (powered by Daytona or GitHub Codespaces), the code lives in our secure VPC.
The "Pixel Streaming" Model
Developers stream the IDE interface. The actual data never touches their local drive. If a contractor leaves, we revoke access instantly. No "remote wipe" anxiety.
Collaborative Coding
Debugging a junior engineer's code used to mean "push to git, I pull, I run, I fail." Now, we just share a URL. Senior engineers can jump into a junior's live environment, see the same running process, and debug in real-time. It's like Google Docs for Engineering.
Stop buying $4,000 laptops. Invest in cloud compute. The IDE of 2026 is a URL, not an application.
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