Developer built an IDE ad extension in one day to earn from code editors
A developer saw a post about Kickbacks.ai and used it as inspiration to build 'Highpay Ads' in a single day. It is a browser-style for coding editors — VS Code, Cursor, and Windsurf — that shows a small sponsored text card inside the file explorer panel on the left side of the editor.
There are no banners, videos, or pop-ups; just a quiet text ad styled to match the editor's color theme. who install the earn money based on how many times the ad is shown ().
Advertisers bid for and can reach directly inside the tools they use every day. The is live at highpay-ads.com/ide-ads.
Key points
- Adds a small text-only ad to the file explorer sidebar of popular coding editors (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf)
- earn money per ad impression; advertisers bid for slots
- No banners or pop-ups — ad is styled to blend with the editor theme
- First working version built and published in under 24 hours after seeing a
- Still early stage — attracting both s and advertisers is the key challenge ahead