Developers have dozens of frameworks available to them, yet AngularJS remains popular in many communities. Known for its power, versatility and ease of use, AngularJS has established itself as one of the top development frameworks of 2023. Yet, it works best when combined with compatible development tools that support its processes.

In this article, we will be talking about the top AngularJS development tools that can help streamline your workflow and enhance your app-building experience.

An AngularJS development tool is a software application, library, or extension that assists engineers with the end-to-end process of developing AngularJS applications and websites. They support developers through each step of the journey, including creation, optimisation, testing and maintenance. Not only that, but they help streamline the development process by enhancing productivity and improving the quality of the application.

There are many different types of AngularJS development tools, including Integrated Development Environments, text editors, testing frameworks and debugging utilities. Each serves a specific purpose in the development process — and we’ll explore a few examples in more detail later.

IDEs vs Text Editors

Both integrated development environments (IDEs) and text editors are valuable tools for AngularJS developers. While IDEs provide a complete development environment, text editors offer a more lightweight and customisable experience. Whether you opt to use an IDE or text editor depends on personal preferences and the complexity of your project.

Developers can use AngularJS development tools for a wide range of processes, from code generation and management to testing and optimisation. Here are some common use cases for AngularJS tools:

• Project scaffolding and code generation: Tools like Angular CLI help create new projects with a recommended structure and generate boilerplate code for components, services and other elements.
• Code editing and management: Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) and text editors provide an environment for writing, editing and managing AngularJS code. They typically offer syntax highlighting, autocompletion and error detection as features.
• Testing and quality assurance: Testing tools help developers ensure the quality and reliability of their applications by writing and executing a wide range of tests, including unit and end-to-end tests.
• Debugging: Debugging tools like Augury and the built-in debugging features of IDEs and text editors help developers identify and resolve application issues, leading to better performance and user experience.
• Performance optimisation: Tools like lazy loading and ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation in AngularJS help improve application performance, reducing load times and ensuring efficient rendering.
• UI components and design: UI libraries and frameworks like Angular Material make it easy to create visually appealing and responsive user interfaces for AngularJS applications.
• Data management and integration: Tools like AngularFire and Ngx-restangular facilitate real-time data synchronisation, API integration and data manipulation, allowing developers to build feature-rich applications.
• Version control and collaboration: Integration with version control systems like Git in IDEs and text editors enables developers to collaborate efficiently and manage code changes.
• Continuous integration and deployment: AngularJS tools can be integrated with CI/CD platforms like Jenkins, Travis CI and CircleCI to automate the entire development pipeline, ensuring high-quality and reliable applications.

With the support of AngularJS tools, a dedicated software development team can streamline the app-building process, consistently create great apps that users like and address critical challenges along the way.

There are countless benefits of using AngularJS for app development, including:

• Simplified development process: AngularJS simplifies the development process by providing a clear structure and built-in directives that make it easy to create complex applications. With AngularJS, developers can quickly scaffold new projects using Angular CLI and follow best practices for project organisation, file structure and code style. This leads to a more efficient and streamlined development process.
• Improved performance: AngularJS is often chosen by developers for its high performance, supporting lazy loading, ahead-of-time compilation and efficient change detection. Lazy loading allows for loading parts of an application on-demand, reducing initial load times. AOT compilation converts Angular HTML and TypeScript code into JavaScript during the build process, resulting in faster rendering and download times. Efficient change detection ensures that AngularJS only updates the parts of the application that require updating, minimising the performance impact of complex operations.
• Two-way data binding: One of AngularJS’ standout features is two-way data binding; this allows developers to synchronise the view with the underlying data model, ensuring changes to the data model are automatically reflected in the view — and vice versa. Two-way data binding significantly reduces the amount of code needed to keep the view and data model in sync, leading to more manageable and maintainable code.
• Dependency injection: A core feature of AngularJS, dependency injection allows for better modularity and code reusability. As the process of managing dependencies is automated, it is easier to develop, test and maintain applications. This design pattern promotes loose coupling between components and makes it simple to swap out dependencies, enabling developers to create more flexible and easily maintainable code.
• Modular architecture: AngularJS promotes a modular architecture, enabling developers to break down their applications into smaller, reusable modules. This approach allows for better organisation, easier code maintenance and improved scalability. By organising code into modules, developers can more easily manage dependencies, reuse components across projects and ensure that their applications remain maintainable as they grow in complexity.
• Comprehensive testing tools: With testing frameworks like Jasmine and Karma, developers can write unit tests for individual components and services. Protractor, an end-to-end testing framework, allows for testing the entire application, ensuring seamless user experiences. These testing tools help developers catch bugs early, maintain high-quality code and improve overall application stability.
• Easy integration with other libraries and frameworks: Whether you need to incorporate additional functionality like real-time data synchronisation with Firebase (using AngularFire) or leverage UI component libraries like Angular Material, AngularJS makes it simple to extend your application’s capabilities. By leveraging existing tools and resources, developers can more easily create powerful, feature-rich applications.

1. Mocha.js

Mocha.js is a versatile testing framework for JavaScript applications, including AngularJS projects. It offers a simple, flexible structure for writing and running asynchronous tests, making it easy to create and execute unit and integration tests for your AngularJS components and services.

Mocha.js offers features such as:

• Support for asynchronous testing
• Rich set of reporter options
• Browser and Node.js compatibility
• Clean, readable syntax for test cases

Mocha.js is commonly used for:

• Testing AngularJS applications
• Writing test cases in a structured and organised manner
• Ensuring code quality and correctness

2. Karma

Karma is a test runner for JavaScript applications that works well with AngularJS. It enables developers to execute tests in real browsers and devices, ensuring accurate results. Karma offers a plugin-based architecture, supporting various testing frameworks, browsers and preprocessors.

Karma boasts features like:

• Support for multiple browsers and platforms
• Easy integration with other testing frameworks, such as Jasmine and Mocha
• Continuous integration support
• Configurable and extensible

Developers use Karma for:

• Running tests in real browsers
• Automating testing workflows
• Enhancing test coverage and reliability

3. Angular CLI

Angular CLI is a powerful command-line interface tool for AngularJS and Angular applications. It simplifies the process of creating, building and deploying projects, offering commands for generating components, directives, services and more. Angular CLI also helps enforce best practices and improve overall development efficiency.

Angular CLI offers features such as:

• Simplified project initialisation and setup
• Support for code generation, testing and deployment
• Built-in development server
• Customisable configurations

Angular CLI is employed for:

• Creating new Angular projects
• Generating components, directives, services and more
• Automating build and testing tasks

4. WebStorm

WebStorm is a popular integrated development environment (IDE) for JavaScript development. WebStorm provides robust code editing, navigation and refactoring tools, along with built-in debugging, testing and version control support. Altogether, it offers a comprehensive solution for building and maintaining AngularJS applications.

WebStorm provides features like:

• Intelligent code completion and refactoring
• Built-in debugger and testing tools
• Integration with popular version control systems, such as Git and SVN
• Customisable interface and themes

Developers use WebStorm for:

• Developing AngularJS applications
• Debugging and testing code
• Collaborating with team members and managing code repositories

5. Visual Studio Code

For those looking for a lightweight, open-source code editor, look no further than Visual Studio Code. With an extensive library of plugins and extensions, Visual Studio Code offers syntax highlighting, autocompletion, error detection and an integrated terminal. Plus, it supports debugging, testing and version control integration.

Visual Studio Code offers features such as:

• Extensibility with a wide array of plugins and extensions
• Integrated Git support
• Built-in terminal
• Customisable interface and themes

Developers utilise Visual Studio Code for:

• Writing and editing AngularJS code
• Debugging and testing
• Customising the editor to suit individual needs and preferences

6. AngularFire

AngularFire is the official library for integrating Firebase, a real-time database and backend-as-a-service platform, with AngularJS applications. AngularFire offers a simple API well-suited to data synchronisation, user authentication and serverless functionality. These features work together to help developers build feature-rich, real-time applications with minimal effort.

AngularFire provides features like:

• Real-time data synchronisation
• Authentication and storage support
• Easy integration with other Firebase services
• Observable-based API

AngularFire is commonly used for:

• Creating data-driven applications
• Implementing authentication and user management
• Storing and retrieving data from Firebase

7. Jasmine

Jasmine is a behaviour-driven development (BDD) testing framework for JavaScript applications, including AngularJS. It offers a clean, readable syntax for writing tests and supports asynchronous testing, making it easy to create comprehensive unit tests for AngularJS components, services and directives.

Jasmine offers features such as:

• No dependencies on other libraries or frameworks
• Clean, readable syntax for test cases
• Supports asynchronous testing
• Built-in test doubles (spies, stubs and mocks)

Jasmine is widely used for:

• Writing tests for AngularJS applications
• Ensuring code quality and reliability
• Implementing BDD testing practices

8. Protractor

Protractor was designed specifically for use with AngularJS applications. This end-to-end testing framework was built on top of WebDriverJS to provide a high-level API for interacting with browsers and simulating user actions. Therefore, it allows developers to test their applications’ complete functionality and user experience.

Protractor includes features like:

• Automatic synchronisation with AngularJS applications
• Support for testing non-AngularJS applications
• Integration with Jasmine and Mocha
• Browser and platform compatibility

Protractor is employed for:

• Testing the user interactions and overall functionality of AngularJS applications
• Ensuring seamless and error-free user experiences
• Running tests on multiple browsers and platforms

9. Augury

Augury is a debugging and profiling extension for Chrome and Firefox that focuses on AngularJS applications, offering insights into component hierarchies, dependency injection, routine and performance. It’s designed to help developers quickly identify and resolve issues, optimise applications and create a seamless user experience.

Augury’s features include:

• Real-time component tree visualisation
• Performance profiling
• Dependency injection graph
• Router tree visualisation

Developers use Augury for:

• Debugging AngularJS applications
• Analysing performance bottlenecks
• Gaining insight into application structure and dependencies

10. Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a feature-rich text editor favoured for its speed and customisation options. A powerful tool for coding and managing AngularJS projects, developers can extend Sublime Text’s functionality to cover syntax highlighting, autocompletion and more.

It offers features such as:

• Multi-language support
• Extensible with plugins and packages
• Split editing and multiple window support
• Customisable interface and themes

Sublime Text is commonly used for:

• Writing and editing AngularJS code
• Customising the editor with plugins to enhance productivity
• Working with multiple files and projects simultaneously

11. Ngx-restangular

Ngx-restangular is a library for AngularJS that simplifies HTTP requests and API integration. This tool makes it easier for developers to build and maintain data-driven applications. It offers a concise and expressive API designed to interact with RESTful services, supporting CRUD operations, error handling and request customisation.

It offers features like:

• Simple configuration and customisation
• Support for HTTP methods, such as GET, POST and PUT
• Request and response interception
• Error handling and retry mechanisms

Developers use Ngx-restangular for:

• Simplifying HTTP requests in AngularJS applications
• Handling API calls efficiently
• Customising request and response behaviour

12. Angular Material

Angular Material is a UI component library for AngularJS and Angular applications, following Google’s Material Design guidelines. This tool has pre-built, responsive and themeable components which developers can use to create beautiful, consistent and accessible user interfaces — all with minimal effort.

Its features include:

• Pre-built, responsive UI components
• Consistent, modern design based on Material Design principles
• Accessibility and internationalisation support
• Theming and customisation options

Angular Material is employed for:

• Building visually appealing and responsive AngularJS applications
• Ensuring consistent UI design across platforms
• Enhancing the user experience with modern UI components