Replit
{{short description|Software development environment}}
{{Distinguish|Read–eval–print loop}}
{{Promotional|date=April 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Replit, Inc
| logo = New Replit Logo.svg
| logo_size = 150px
| logo_caption = Logo
| former_name = Repl.it
| founded = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| founders = {{Unbulleted list|Amjad Masad|Faris Masad|Haya Odeh}}
| hq_location_city = Foster City, California
| num_locations = 2 offices
| num_locations_year = 2022
| services = {{Unbulleted list|Community|Hosting|IDE}}
| website = {{url|https://replit.com}}
}}
Replit ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɛ|p|l|ɪ|t}}), formerly Repl.it, is an American AI company with natural language application development through its Agent platform. Founded in 2016 as a online integrated development environment (IDE),{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/15/repl-it-lets-you-program-in-your-browser/|title=Repl.it lets you program in your browser|website=TechCrunch|date=March 15, 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=January 5, 2019}} Replit creates software via AI with a platform called Agent.
History
Replit was co-founded by the Jordanian programmers Amjad Masad, Faris Masad, and designer Haya Odeh in 2016.{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Salvador |date=October 22, 2018 |title=Former Facebook engineer quit to build the programming tool he always wanted |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/22/andreessen-horowitz-leads-4point5-million-seed-round-in-replit.html |website=CNBC}}{{Cite web |date=2019-04-30 |title=Today's Entrepreneur: Faris Masad |url=https://vator.tv/news/2019-04-30-todays-entrepreneur-faris-masad |access-date=2021-01-12 |website=VatorNews}} It was incorporated in San Mateo.{{Cite web |last=Replit |date=2021-01-27 |title=Replit — Going Global |url=https://blog.replit.com/global |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=Replit Blog}}{{cite web |title=About - Repl.it |url=http://repl.it/about |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824072203if_/http://repl.it/about |archive-date=24 August 2014 |access-date=8 June 2021 |website=repl.it/about}}{{cite web |last1=Eisenberg |first1=Bart |title=#42 Computer Science 2.0: Part 1―Amjad Masad: Engineer, Codecademy; Co-inventor, repl.it |date=October 22, 2012 |url=https://gihyo.jp/dev/serial/01/software_designers/0042 |access-date=8 June 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Spina |first1=Carli |date=May 5, 2014 |title=Practice Programming Languages In Your Browser With Repl.it |url=https://carlispina.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/repl-it/ |access-date=8 June 2021}} Its name comes from the acronym REPL, which stands for "read–evaluate–print loop". Replit has transformed from a collaborative coding platform into an AI-powered software creation ecosystem centered around the ability to build complete applications by describing them in natural language. The company's Agent technology converts plain English descriptions into functioning software.
Before creating Replit, Amjad Masad worked in engineering roles at Yahoo and Facebook, where he built development tools. He also helped found Codecademy. Masad had come up with the idea for Replit over a decade before its creation.{{cite web |last1=Sawers |first1=Paul |date=18 February 2021 |title=Replit raises $20 million for collaborative browser-based coding |url=https://venturebeat.com/2021/02/18/replit-raises-20-million-for-collaborative-browser-based-coding/ |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=VentureBeat}}
In 2009, having seen significant advancements in browser and web technologies, Masad imagined a development environment built on the same premise as Google Docs; that is, allowing the user to write and share code all in a web browser. In 2011, he produced an early open-source version of this concept, called “JSRepl”.{{Cite web |last=Masad |first=Amjad |title=Replit Dotcom |url=https://blog.replit.com/dotcom |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=Replit |date=March 9, 2021 |language=en}} Because Masad then spent a few years working at various companies, including Udacity and Codecademy, JSRepl was used to power Udacity and Codecademy's in-browser tutorials.