ADCode
ADCode is the code editor Bluethenics builds. It is free on Windows, macOS and Linux, it has Monaco editing, real terminals, git and four AI providers in the box, and it is funded by advertisers rather than by a subscription — who pay the developer using it half of what they bid.
- Price
- Free
- Revenue share
- 50%
- Platforms
- Win / mac / Linux
- Status
- Available now
The idea
Every free developer tool is paid for by somebody. Usually it is a vendor buying strategic position, and the price is that you are the position. ADCode makes the funding explicit instead: an advertiser pays to reach a developer, and the developer who was reached is credited half of it.
That only means anything if the numbers are checkable, which is why the earnings sit on an append-only ledger. Rows are never edited and never deleted; a correction is written as a separate reversal that references the entry it reverses. We gave up the ability to quietly adjust a balance, because a promise not to is worth less than not being able to.
What is in it
- Monaco — the editing surface from VS Code, so the keybindings you know work.
- Four AI providers on your own API key. No markup, no request cap of ours.
- Real terminals, more than one, with actual shells.
- Git — stage, commit, branch, blame, and a browsable commit history.
- Plain-English compiler errors, with the original kept alongside.
- Live collaboration and a built-in preview server.
What it does not do
It does not read your source to target advertising. Targeting uses a fixed vocabulary of 45 generic tags — the language and framework in use, nothing more. File contents, file paths and project names never leave the machine.
It also does not have VS Code's extension marketplace, and if a proprietary Microsoft extension is load-bearing for your work, that is a real reason to stay where you are. ADCode's own comparison page says so at more length.
How much it pays
Advertisers bid in a second-price auction from $1.00 per 500 impressions, and the developer receives 50% of the clearing price. Over a normal working month that is a low single-digit dollar figure — enough to cover the editor and a share of your AI provider spend, not enough to be income. We would rather say that here than have you work it out later.
ADCode installs with one command and updates itself from then on. The full site, documentation and downloads are on its own domain.
Who builds it
ADCode is built and published by Bluethenics, an independent software studio that also builds Jace, an on-device AI assistant, and Venet, a network for founders. Questions go to [email protected].