How to Use Google Antigravity: Complete Beginner's Guide

Google Antigravity is an agent-first development platform designed to help developers work with AI agents across coding, terminal workflows, browser tasks, and broader project work. This beginner's guide explains how to get started, create a project, give an agent useful instructions, review its work, and build a safer workflow.

Updated: August 2026

What Is Google Antigravity?

Antigravity has evolved into a family of products. Antigravity 2.0 is a standalone command center for orchestrating autonomous agents, while Antigravity IDE provides a full coding environment. Google also provides Antigravity CLI for terminal-based workflows and an SDK for building custom agent experiences.

The important idea is that you do not have to describe every individual code edit. Instead, you can give the agent a goal, provide constraints, and then review the plan, changes, and verification results.

What You Need Before Using Antigravity

• A supported Windows, macOS, or Linux computer for the relevant Antigravity product.
• A Google account for the IDE setup.
• A software project or an empty folder for your first experiment.
• Basic familiarity with your programming language and Git is recommended.

Antigravity 2.0 vs Antigravity IDE

Product	Best for
Antigravity 2.0	Managing and orchestrating multiple agents and projects
Antigravity IDE	Developers who want an editor, terminal, and agent in one coding workspace
Antigravity CLI	Terminal-first and headless workflows
Antigravity SDK	Developers building custom agent integrations

How to Install Google Antigravity

For the desktop products, start from Google's official Antigravity download page. The current documentation lists Windows 10 64-bit, supported macOS versions, and Linux distributions meeting the documented library requirements for the IDE.

Open the official Google Antigravity download page

Install the IDE

1. Download Antigravity IDE for your operating system.
2. Run the installer.
3. Open Antigravity after installation.
4. Sign in with your Google account when prompted.
5. Review the agent and terminal execution settings before starting work.

How to Create Your First Antigravity Project

Projects define the folders and repositories an agent can work with. Start with a small project rather than immediately giving an agent access to a large collection of unrelated code.

1. Open Antigravity.
2. Create a new project or open an existing project.
3. Add the local folder or Git repository you want to work on.
4. Review the project settings and security policies.
5. Open the editor and agent panel.

How to Use the Antigravity Agent

The best way to work with an agent is to describe the outcome rather than micromanaging every file edit. A strong prompt usually includes the goal, relevant constraints, expected behavior, and how the result should be verified.

Example prompt

Inspect this project first.

Add a responsive contact form to the existing application.
Requirements:
- Keep the current design system.
- Do not change unrelated files.
- Validate all required fields.
- Add appropriate error handling.
- Run the existing tests after the implementation.
- Summarize every file changed.

This gives the agent enough context to plan the work while keeping the scope under control.

How to Get Better Results From Antigravity

1. Start with a clear goal

Instead of saying “fix my app,” explain what is broken, what the expected behavior is, and what should not change.

2. Ask the agent to inspect first

For an existing project, ask the agent to understand the relevant files and architecture before making changes.

3. Set boundaries

Tell the agent which folders, technologies, APIs, or design patterns it should use. Explicit boundaries reduce unnecessary changes.

4. Require verification

Ask the agent to run relevant tests, linters, builds, or browser checks after making changes.

5. Review the output

Agentic development does not remove the need for developer review. Check diffs, test results, dependencies, security-sensitive code, and anything that touches production data.

Artifacts, Skills, MCP, and Other Features

Antigravity's documentation describes artifacts as outputs the agent can create to communicate or complete work, including markdown files, diffs, diagrams, images, and browser recordings. Antigravity also supports skills and MCP servers that can provide additional project-specific capabilities.

These features become especially useful as your projects grow. Start simple, then add project-specific instructions and tools only when they solve a real workflow problem.

Using Antigravity for Debugging

A useful debugging workflow is:

1. Give the agent the exact error message.
2. Explain what you expected to happen.
3. Ask it to locate the relevant code path.
4. Ask for a diagnosis before requesting a fix.
5. Review the proposed change.
6. Run the relevant test or reproduce the issue again.

Using Antigravity for Code Reviews

You can ask an agent to review a specific change for bugs, edge cases, maintainability, performance, and security. Give it a clear scope and ask for findings with file names and severity so you can validate each result.

Antigravity Safety Tips

• Do not blindly approve terminal commands.
• Do not expose passwords, API keys, or private credentials in prompts.
• Review changes before committing or deploying them.
• Be careful with commands that delete files or modify databases.
• Use Git so you can inspect and revert changes.
• Keep agent permissions appropriate for the project.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Giving extremely vague prompts.
• Letting the agent modify unrelated files.
• Skipping tests after code changes.
• Accepting generated dependencies without checking them.
• Giving production credentials to an AI tool.
• Assuming a successful build means the feature is correct.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Google Antigravity an IDE?

Antigravity includes an IDE product, but the current platform is broader than a traditional IDE. Antigravity 2.0 acts as an agent command center, while Antigravity IDE is the coding-focused environment.

Can beginners use Google Antigravity?

Yes. Beginners can start with small projects and simple instructions. However, basic programming knowledge is still useful because you need to review AI-generated code and understand what it changes.

Can Antigravity edit my existing project?

Yes. You can associate an existing local folder or repository with a project and then ask the agent to inspect and modify the code within that workspace.

Can Antigravity run terminal commands?

Agent workflows can use terminal capabilities, subject to the permissions and policies configured for your environment. Review potentially destructive commands before allowing them to run.

What is the best way to prompt Antigravity?

Describe the goal, existing context, constraints, expected result, and verification steps. For larger tasks, ask the agent to plan first and then implement the approved scope.

Conclusion

Google Antigravity is best understood as an agent-first development environment rather than simply another code editor. Start with a small project, give the agent a clear goal, review its proposed changes, and verify the result with tests and real-world checks.

If you are comparing AI coding tools, the next useful guide is Google Antigravity vs Cursor vs Kiro: Which AI Coding Tool Is Best?

Official Resources

• Google Antigravity Documentation
• Google Antigravity Download
• Google Codelab: Getting Started with Google Antigravity
• Google Codelab: Getting Started with Antigravity IDE

Author: Talha Khan

Editorial note: Product features and supported platforms can change. Verify current behavior and requirements in Google's official Antigravity documentation before publishing updates to this guide.