Google Antigravity for Windows: First Look and Download Guide

I’ve spent the last 24 hours with Google Antigravity, the new agentic IDE dropped alongside the massive Gemini 3 release, and I’ll be blunt: this feels like the moment Google finally woke up. They aren’t just catching up to Cursor; they are attempting to leapfrog the entire concept of an “editor.”

The focus is unmistakable: autonomous agents, “vibe coding,” and a Manager View that changes how you manage code. It’s designed to stop you from acting like a bricklayer and start treating you like an architect.

This isn’t just a re-skin of VS Code (though it is a fork); it is a completely new paradigm where the IDE has eyes, ears, and a brain powered by Gemini 3 Pro.

This post is my hands-on breakdown after running it on Windows 11 since yesterday’s drop. I’ll cover the features, the “cursor-killing” claims, and crucially how to get past the annoying account setup bug that plagued the launch.

What Is Google Antigravity?

Google Antigravity is the new “agentic development platform” from Google, available now as a Public Preview. While it looks like VS Code on the surface, it replaces the traditional file explorer with a Mission Control interface designed for the AI era.

The groundbreaking shift here is the Agent Manager View. Unlike Visual Studio 2026 Insider which focuses on copilots assisting you, Antigravity is built for autonomous agents.

You assign a task like “refactor the login flow and test it in the browser” and the agent spins up, edits files, runs terminal commands, and actually verifies its work using a built-in Chrome instance.

It runs on the newly released Gemini 3 Pro, utilizing a massive context window to understand your entire repo, documentation, and even live screenshots of your app.

How to Download and Install Google Antigravity

Installing Antigravity is straightforward, though the launch servers have been hammering us with a few hiccups.

1. Download the installer for your OS directly from the official site:
   • Download: antigravity.google.com/download
2. Run the installer (e.g., Antigravity_Setup_x64.exe).
3. Important Note on Setup: When you first launch the app, you will be asked to “Set up your account” to sync with Gemini 3.
4. If you get stuck spinning on “Setting up your account”: This was the #1 issue yesterday. Google has rolled out a partial fix, but if you are still stuck:
   • Fix: Change your default browser to Chrome temporarily before signing in. Users (myself included) found that Edge/Brave caused the auth token to hang.
   • Retry: If it fails, close the app completely and try again. It took me three tries, but once you are in, you are good for good.
5. Once logged in, you can choose to import your keybindings and extensions from VS Code or start fresh.

What’s New and What Can You Do?

The shift to “Agentic” coding is jarring at first, but powerful.

• The Manager View: This is the killer feature. Instead of just a chat box, you have a dashboard where you can spawn multiple agents. You can have one agent fixing a CSS bug while another writes unit tests in the background. You watch them work in real-time.
• Browser orchestration: Antigravity doesn’t just write code; it can “see” your app. Using the embedded Chrome extension, the agent can click buttons, fill forms, and take screenshots to verify that its CSS changes actually look right.
• Vibe Coding with Gemini 3: The new Gemini 3 Pro model is scary good at “vibe coding”; where you describe the feeling or high-level functionality (“make the landing page feel more like 90s cyberpunk”) and it handles the implementation details without you needing to micromanage every div.
• Artifacts & Annotations: You can take a screenshot of your running app, draw a red circle around a button, and paste it into the chat. The agent understands the visual feedback immediately.
• Model Flexibility: While it defaults to Gemini 3, Antigravity natively supports Claude Sonnet 4.5 and GPT-OSS, so you aren’t locked into Google’s ecosystem if you prefer Anthropic’s reasoning.

Google Antigravity vs The Competition

Is this the Cursor killer? Here is how it stacks up against the heavy hitters.

Is Google Antigravity for You?

• Great fit for: Developers who are tired of copy-pasting code from chat windows, full-stack devs who want an AI to handle the “grunt work” of CSS and testing, and early adopters of Gemini 3.
• Less ideal for: Developers working on strictly offline air-gapped machines, or those who need the robust, legacy enterprise tools found in Visual Studio 2026. If you are deep in the AWS ecosystem, you might also want to look at Kiro IDE on Windows instead.

Quick Start Guide: First Steps with Antigravity

1. Open Mission Control: Don’t just open a file. Hit Cmd/Ctrl + I to open the Agent interface.
2. Spawn an Agent: Type “Scan my repo and create a README.md explaining the architecture.” Watch it read your files and generate the artifact.
3. Visual Debugging: Run your localhost server. Click the “Eye” icon in the chat to let the agent see your browser window. Tell it: “Fix the alignment on that navbar,” and watch it inspect the element and apply the fix.
4. Switch Models: If Gemini 3 feels too creative, click the model dropdown in the top right and switch to Claude Sonnet 4.5 for stricter logic handling.

Common Issues and Fixes

• Account Setup Loop: As mentioned, if you get stuck on the loading spinner during setup, close the app, set Chrome as your default browser, and try again. This is a known server-side auth issue.
• Terminal Hallucinations: Occasionally, the agent tries to run Linux commands on Windows (PowerShell). You can instruct it in the custom instructions: “Always use PowerShell Core.”
• Extension Compatibility: Most VS Code extensions work, but some UI-heavy extensions (like certain themes) might clash with the new “Glass” interface of Antigravity.

What Does Antigravity Look Like?

Check out some of my screenshots when I first tested it out and explored it on my PC.

Google Antigravity Home screen

This is what you will see in this build when you load it up first(after setting it up etc).

Antigravity AI Models to choose from

Here is where you choose what type of AI model you want to use, the choices are limited for now.

Browser Settings Page

The browser settings page has just that, settings for your browser, Id recommend leave everything the way it is at start, if anything, enable everything.

The agent manager(mission control)

This is the Agent Manager where you can customize your multiple agents in various ways and how they can interact with other agents etc.

Choose what language to begin

I of course started with, drum roll, PHP! My favorite language even after all these years but as you can see, you have a lot of languages to choose from.

Antigravity Chrome Extension

This is how it looks currently when you are prompted to install the needed Antigravity Chrome extension for the browser to work perfectly.

After installing Chrome Extension

This is the screen after you install the extension, this part of the whole installation is buggy, so don’t be surprised if it asks you a few times to install it, again.

Project Obito??

This is how it looks like once you finish setting up everything and you are ready to “VIBE” code your first app, game, whatever on your Windows 11/10 desktop.Mine as you can see from the screenshot I have called it Project Obito, I will explain later lol, Obito is my favorite character in Anime, for those that don’t know!

Antigravity Beginners Guide Video

This was the 2nd video I watched about Google Antigravity and it was the one that made me try it right away.

Antigravity FAQ

• Is Google Antigravity free? Currently, the Public Preview is free for individuals. There will likely be a paid “Pro” tier for advanced compute usage later.
• Does it replace VS Code? It is a fork of VS Code, so it supports the same extensions and keybinds, but the workflow is fundamentally different.
• Is my code private? Google states that on the Enterprise plan, code is not used for training. For the free preview, you should check the “Data & Privacy” settings during setup (you can opt-out of training).
• Can I use it for C#/.NET? Yes, via the C# Dev Kit extension, but for heavy .NET enterprise work, Visual Studio 2026 remains the king.

Where to Follow Development

• Official Page: Antigravity.Google
• Google Developers Blog: Developers.GoogleBlog.com
• Bug Reports: Use the “Feedback” icon in the bottom right of the IDE.

That’s my take on Google Antigravity after Day 1. It’s buggy, it’s bold, and it might just be the future. If you’re stuck on the setup screen, try the Chrome fix.