Hands‑On Review: Trae AI IDE Brings Claude‑3.5 and GPT‑4o to Windows

Overview

Trae AI IDE released a Windows version (downloadable from https://www.trae.ai). The IDE integrates Claude‑3.5‑Sonnet and GPT‑4o and provides free access during its promotion period.

Model Support

Supports Claude‑3.5‑Sonnet and GPT‑4o without the 15‑day usage limit imposed by some competitors.

Configuration Import

Can import extensions, settings, and keybindings from VS Code and Cursor, enabling seamless migration.

Operation Modes

Chat Mode

Allows inline queries about the current file, provides modification suggestions, and supports one‑click application of changes. Includes standard AI‑assisted code completion.

Builder Mode

Acts as a global assistant for end‑to‑end project creation: can generate a project scaffold, create or modify files, run terminal commands, and analyze command output.

Example Workflow

Prompted the IDE to create a browser extension that converts Twitter posts to images. Without specifying a technology stack, the IDE selected TypeScript and React, generated the project structure, and created files such as vite.config.ts. The IDE detected a syntax error in the config file and offered an automatic fix.

To run the project, the IDE suggested the following commands:

npm install
npm run dev

If the user omitted npm install, the IDE recognized missing dependencies and re‑suggested the installation command.

For packaging the extension, the IDE recommended: npm run build and indicated necessary adjustments to configuration files for browser deployment.

Key Observations

Model quality (Claude‑3.5‑Sonnet, GPT‑4o) is comparable to leading AI IDEs.

Both chat and builder modes provide a smooth, button‑driven interaction suitable for users with limited development experience.

The IDE can automatically fix simple code issues and guide dependency management.