Trae AI is an AI-powered integrated development environment (IDE) developed by ByteDance, the company behind TikTok. Designed as a free alternative to premium AI coding tools like Cursor and Windsurf, Trae provides developers with access to best-in-class language models including Claude Sonnet 4 and GPT-4o at no cost on its free tier. The IDE is built on the VSCode architecture, supporting over 100 programming languages and full compatibility with VSCode extensions. Trae offers two primary modes: Builder Mode, which automatically breaks down and executes complex development tasks while letting users preview and control each step, and Chat Mode for interactive code analysis, debugging, and suggestions. A standout feature is SOLO mode, which acts as an autonomous AI engineer capable of understanding requirements, planning work, writing code, and deploying applications end-to-end. Trae also supports customizable AI agents with configurable tools, skills, and logic, enabling developers to tailor the IDE to their specific workflows. The platform integrates seamlessly with GitHub for project cloning, publishing, version control, and AI-assisted commit message optimization. Multimodal input including image uploads allows developers to describe UI designs visually. Codebase files remain stored locally on user devices, with files only temporarily uploaded for embedding during indexing. Available on macOS and Windows with Linux support planned, Trae has rapidly gained popularity as the most affordable full-featured AI coding IDE on the market.