On the use of extended reality to support software development activities: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Context: Extended Reality (XR) technologies, including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, offer novel ways to support software development through immersive and spatial representations of complex software artifacts. Although many XR-based tools have been introduced, their coverage of development activities, types of visualized software data, and evaluation quality remain unclear. Objectives: This paper aims to systematically review the use of XR in software development, focusing on the tasks supported, the types of data visualized, the visualization and interaction techniques, the evaluation methods, and the limitations reported. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature of 77 primary studies published between 1995 and February 2025. Each study was analyzed and classified according to the supported development tasks, the types of visualized software data, the visualization techniques used, the XR technologies used, the evaluation strategies, and the limitations. Results: Our findings show that most XR tools target software comprehension, primarily through structural visualizations. City metaphors and other metaphor-based techniques are the most common. However, XR remains underexplored in activities such as testing, performance analysis, and requirements engineering. Evaluation approaches are heterogeneous, often lacking methodological rigor, sufficient sample sizes, and standardized metrics. Conclusion: Although XR holds promise for improving software development, its current use is concentrated in a narrow set of activities and is hampered by limited evaluation quality. The challenges remain in tool integration, interaction design, and practical adoption. We identify key gaps and provide recommendations to guide future research toward broader and more effective use of XR in software engineering.