Confluent has introduced an Early Access Program for Confluent for VS Code, a Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) extension that streamlines workflows and accelerates development cycles for real-time data processing. The open-source extension offers features like local Kafka process support, integration with Apache Flink®, and enhanced visibility into data streams. It enables developers to set up new projects quickly, gain visibility into Confluent resources, manage and debug real-time data streams, and monitor system health in real time. Confluent for VS Code is currently available in Early Access, with a plan to make it generally available on Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform in 2025.