New Relic Inc. today introduced New Relic CodeStream, a new service that will enable developers to use a single interface to perform tasks for which they previously needed to keep multiple tabs open.

CodeStream is based on technology that New Relic obtained through the acquisition of a venture-backed startup of the same name. The deal was announced this morning as well. In conjunction, New Relic said it’s teaming up with Microsoft Corp. to drive developer adoption of CodeStream.

Publicly traded New Relic provides an observability platform that helps software teams detect and fix issues in their applications. The platform can spot if a database becomes unavailable, or if an e-commerce app encounters an error when trying to process a purchase. New Relic helps customers detect other types of technical issues as well. 

The new CodeStream service will make New Relic’s platform more useful for developers. Normally, when an observability tool flags an issue such as a drop in application performance, developers have to find the line of code responsible manually. CodeStream automates the task. The service enables developers to jump with one click from a problem alert in New Relic’s platform to the line of code responsible for the issue.

The potential time savings CodeStream could deliver are significant. In an enterprise application with tens of thousands of lines of code or more, identifying exactly which part of the software is causing a technical issue can take a lot of effort. Automating the task could enable developers to resolve software malfunctions faster significantly faster in some cases.

CodeStream works in a developer’s integrated development environment, or IDE, the desktop-based software that programmers use to write code. After a CodeStream user selects the application error they wish to troubleshoot, the relevant piece of code shows up directly in their IDE.

Alongside pointers on where to start troubleshooting application issues, CodeStream provides several other productivity features. When a developer writes a new piece of code to improve an application, they can submit a pull request to indicate to colleagues that the code is ready for release. If a bug is found, users can access information about the issue via CodeStream. 

Pull requests and bug tracking are two tasks that, similarly to the process of identifying which line of code caused a technical issue, previously required developers to jump among multiple application tabs. CodeStream enables software teams to do everything through their IDE. 

Additionally, the service provides commenting features that enable developers to embed technical feedback next to specific lines of code.

“We are accelerating our mission to make every engineer embrace observability by bringing production telemetry and code collaboration tools to millions of developers where they build and flow — the IDE,” said New Relic Chief Executive Officer Bill Staples. 

New Relic is teaming up with Microsoft to bring CodeStream to more software teams. Besides its role as a major player in the cloud computing and operating system markets, Microsoft also makes some of the industry’s most popular development tools. New Relic has partnered with the tech giant to integrate CodeStream more closely with its development tools.

CodeStream is based on technology that New Relic obtained through the purchase of a startup of the same name. The startup created integrations with several of Microsoft’s development tools prior to the deal. As a result, CodeStream already works with Microsoft’s VS Code and Visual Studio code editing applications, Microsoft Teams, GitHub and Azure DevOps, a cloud service that provides software project management features. 

CodeStream could help New Relic present a more compelling value proposition not only to development teams but also to executives at the companies to which it sells. 

In addition to saving time for software teams, speeding up application troubleshooting reduces the business impact of outages. If a delivery company’s core logistics application goes offline, the firm can’t operate at full capacity until the workload is restored. The faster developers troubleshoot technical issues, the sooner important applications can be recovered after an outage.

“Previously, observability tooling was coupled tightly to the operations function and constrained in stand-alone experiences designed for operations engineers,” Staples and CodeStream co-founder Peter Pezaris wrote in a blog post today. “As a result, it was difficult for developers to apply critical production observations to resolve errors or issues or measure improvements.”

The developer productivity segment that New Relic is targeting with CodeStream is a lucrative market. Moreover, the large amount of funding raised by developer tooling startups recently indicates that it’s a rapidly growing market as well. 

Sourcegraph Inc. in July secured $125 million for its search platform, which lets developers jump to specific lines of code in an application. More recently, Snyk Ltd. raised $530 million, then an additional $75 million a few weeks later, to make finding software vulnerabilities easier. 

New Relic is providing CodeStream as part of its flagship observability platform, New Relic One. The service is available today.

Image: New Relic