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How Lonti Created a Unified IDE for APIs, Automation, and Application Development With Eclipse Theia

Table of Contents

Introduction

Lonti is on a mission to empower professional developers with low-code tools designed specifically for building APIs, integrating systems, automating workflows, and developing custom applications. Their flagship product, Martini Designer, delivers a fully-featured, developer-centric IDE available both as a desktop application and an online platform.

When the Lonti team set out to evolve Martini Designer, they were looking for a framework that could provide a modern, flexible foundation—one that could support both low-code and pro-code workflows without compromise. They chose Eclipse Theia to achieve this goal, enabling them to offer powerful visual design tools, seamless version control integration, and advanced debugging capabilities in a unified development environment.

From Eclipse IDE to Eclipse Theia

The first version of Martini Designer was originally built on the Eclipse IDE platform, which provided a strong starting point for the platform’s development. As the product matured, Lonti began exploring ways to enhance user experience and broaden platform reach.

To overcome these challenges, Lonti evaluated modern alternatives and found that Eclipse Theia offered exactly what they needed:

By transitioning to Theia, Lonti was able to simplify development, accelerate innovation, and deliver a seamless, modern IDE experience to their users.

Key Features Enabled by Theia

Workflow Designer

One of the standout features introduced in Lonti’s Theia-based release is the visual workflow designer. This tool simplifies API orchestration and automation tasks by providing developers with an intuitive, visual interface. Developers can use the workflow designer to orchestrate data flows, automate business processes, integrate systems, or implement business logic for server-side applications. Leveraging modern web browser UI libraries and the flexibility of Theai’s UI framework made it possible for Lonti to build and integrate this tool seamlessly, giving developers control and flexibility in designing complex workflows.

Visual REST API Designer

Martini Designer also includes a powerful Visual REST API Designer. Using a drag-and-drop interface, developers can design REST APIs visually while still retaining control over the underlying OpenAPI specifications. The API designer can automatically generate an OpenAPI schema, comprehensive API documentation, and a Postman collection, streamlining the process from design to testing. Theia’s powerful command and handler API, menu system, and UI widgets like trees and dialogs made it easy to develop and maintain these features.

Low Code Service Generation

Martini Designer enables developers to generate low-code services either manually or automatically when consuming an API specification or from the HTTP client. Services can be used to implement the operation of an API or serve as a reusable process within a workflow. Like workflows, services can be invoked via multiple triggers including HTTP, FTP, email, a scheduler, and more. All of it can be configured by dozens of editors, views, menus, and toolbars, Theia’s solid frontend architecture helped keep features organised and maintainable.

Data Mapper

The Data Mapper feature provides a visual, drag-and-drop interface for mapping fields between source and target data models. Reusing Theia’s built-in utilities and components allowed Lonti to integrate this tool into the IDE effortlessly.

Code Completion & Editor Enhancements

Whilst Martini Designer is a low-code platform, it is designed to allow developers to code if and when they need to, ensuring “low-code without limits.” Martini supports multiple scripting and programming languages including Groovy, JavaScript, Kotlin, Python, and Bash. Lonti leveraged Theia’s support for the Language Server Protocol (LSP) and VS Code extensions to deliver features developers expect, including:

These capabilities help developers stay productive while writing configuration files, scripts, or API definitions.

Git Integration

Version control is an essential part of any developer’s workflow. Using Theia’s built-in Git extension, Lonti integrated full Git support into Martini Designer. Developers can manage branches, commit changes, and push to remote repositories—all without leaving the IDE.

Debugger

To streamline debugging, Martini Designer includes support for step-debugging of services and workflows. Theia’s debugging features, like the console view, provided the foundation for integrating this capability into the IDE, helping developers quickly identify and resolve issues.

HTTP Client

Testing APIs is a key part of API development. Martini Designer incorporates a built-in, Postman-style HTTP Client, made possible through Theia’s extensibility. Developers can send requests, inspect responses, and debug endpoints—all within the same environment. By building the HTTP Client directly into Martini Designer, Lonti increased developer productivity by allowing users to right-click API operations within the API Designer and invoke them instantly in the HTTP Client. Additionally, developers can consume a third-party API and export the request as either a reusable service or a workflow. Importing Postman collections is also supported, further streamlining the API development and testing process. Thanks to Theia’s architecture, which integrates both backend and frontend components, Lonti was able to deliver this feature in web browsers as well.

Benefits to Developers

By adopting Eclipse Theia, Lonti has been able to deliver a modern, developer-centric IDE experience. Key benefits include:

Looking Ahead

Lonti continues to evolve Martini Designer with new capabilities, including enhanced debugging tools, AI-assisted development features, and deeper cloud integration. The team also looks forward to continued collaboration with the Eclipse Theia community, contributing feedback and sharing their experiences to help shape the future of the platform.

Learn More

To learn more about Martini Designer and see Eclipse Theia in action, visit Lonti’s website. Both Martini Designer Desktop and Designer Online are available in a free edition, allowing developers to explore their features without commitment.

Also learn why Eclipse Theia is the Next Generation Platform for building IDEs and Tools and visit the Theia website to learn more about Eclipse Theia.

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