Antigravity IDE 2.6.0 Dropped Its Own Language Server: It Now Runs the agy CLI Instead

Update (Oct 31, 2026, evening): We updated our own Windows installation of Antigravity IDE from an older version to 2.6.0 and watched the first launch. The IDE showed "Installing Antigravity Backend: Downloading…" and put its own copy of the Antigravity CLI (agy.exe 1.4.12, 213 MB, signed by Google LLC) into %USERPROFILE%\.gemini\bin. It did this although the standalone CLI was already installed in %LOCALAPPDATA%\agy\bin: the two files are byte-for-byte identical, so the PC now holds two copies. The running backend is agy.exe --hub, which confirms what we read in the extension's settings below. The IDE also downloaded webm_encoder.exe (13 MB, not code-signed) into %USERPROFILE%\.gemini\antigravity\bin. The Antigravity desktop app ships its own copy of that file, so it looks like a shared component; our guess is that it encodes video recordings, which we haven't confirmed. Once the backend was installed, the IDE showed a "Security Notice & Data Use" dialog. It warns about agent risks "including data exfiltration and possible code execution" and offers an optional checkbox for Google to collect your Interactions data. The checkbox is unchecked by default, and the IDE works without it.

TL;DR: Antigravity IDE 2.6.0, released on October 26, 2026, no longer ships a built-in language server. Version 2.5.5 bundled a 135 MB language_server_windows_x64.exe. In 2.6.0 that whole extension is gone. A new, JavaScript-only extension called "Google Antigravity" replaces it and starts the Antigravity CLI (agy --hub) as its background server, one per window. Its description reads "Bring Google's agent-first development platform to Visual Studio Code."

What changed inside the IDE

We track every official Antigravity build. When the IDE 2.6.0 archive appeared on Google's update server, our scanner no longer found the language server binary it had extracted from every previous IDE version. So we looked inside.

How the new extension works

The extension's own settings describe the new design. The key one is antigravity.serverPort:

"Port for the Antigravity background server (agy --hub). … Each VS Code window spawns its own agy server…"

The other settings fit the same picture:

• antigravity.releaseBaseUrl: "Base URL for CLI downloads". The extension can fetch the CLI itself if it isn't installed.
• antigravity.serverUrl: "Explicit URL for the Antigravity backend language server (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:4242)". You can point it at a server that's already running.
• antigravity.serverArgs and antigravity.serverStartupTimeoutMs: extra arguments for the server and how long to wait for it to start.
• antigravity.channel: release channel, default production.

The manifest targets "vscode": "^1.80.0", a regular VS Code version range. The build inside the IDE also ships a patch that turns on four IDE-only API proposals on top of that: antigravityInlineCompletions, antigravityTabToJump, antigravityLanguageServer and antigravityUnifiedStateSync. So the IDE runs the same extension, plus extra hooks for features like inline completions and Tab-to-jump that plain VS Code doesn't expose.

Why it matters

One backend instead of three. The Antigravity desktop app, the CLI and the IDE used to ship their own copies of the language server, built from the same code but released on separate schedules. From 2.6.0 the IDE uses the CLI as its engine. New models and agent features should now reach the IDE on the CLI's release schedule. The CLI has been updating almost daily: versions 1.4.0 to 1.4.12 shipped between October 16 and 31.

A smaller IDE. The Linux download shrank by 45 MB, and the IDE no longer carries its own copy of the server.

A hint of a VS Code extension. An extension whose description promises to bring Antigravity "to Visual Studio Code", built against the standard VS Code API, looks ready to run outside Google's IDE. This is our reading of the manifest: Google hasn't announced a standalone VS Code extension.

An open question about Argon. As of October 16, Google's models page said Gemini 4 Argon is "not available in Antigravity IDE" while it was available in the app and the CLI. With the IDE now running the CLI as its backend, that gap may close. We haven't verified it yet.

What to check after updating to 2.6.0

1. The IDE needs the agy CLI. If it isn't installed, the extension downloads it (see antigravity.releaseBaseUrl). On locked-down machines, allow that download or install the CLI yourself.
2. Each IDE window starts its own agy --hub process. If you run several windows, expect several background processes.
3. If a firewall or another tool clashes with random local ports, set a fixed antigravity.serverPort in Workspace settings, as the setting's description recommends.

FAQ

Does Antigravity IDE 2.6.0 still include a language server? No. The archive contains no language server binary. The new "Google Antigravity" extension starts the Antigravity CLI (agy --hub) instead.

Do I need the Antigravity CLI for the IDE now? The IDE uses it as its backend. The extension's settings show it can download the CLI automatically.

Is there an Antigravity extension for regular VS Code? Not officially announced. The IDE's new extension describes itself as bringing Antigravity to Visual Studio Code and targets the standard VS Code API, which suggests one is possible.

When was IDE 2.6.0 released? The official Linux archive is dated October 26, 2026 (21:13 UTC), and it appeared in Antigravity's official release list that night.

Sources

• Our scans of the official Antigravity IDE builds 2.5.5 and 2.6.0 (Linux archives from Google's update server; 2.5.5 also as installed on Windows), October 2026
• Our Windows installation of Antigravity IDE 2.6.0 after updating, October 31, 2026 (files, Authenticode signatures, running processes, first-launch dialog)
• The package.json of the "Google Antigravity" extension inside IDE 2.6.0 (quoted setting descriptions)
• Google Antigravity releases
• Google Antigravity models