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Agentic Engineering Patterns

simonwillison.net

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141–150 of 341 posts

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#141

Post by xXSLAYERXx »

benrutter wrote: post #10

I use AI in my workflow mostly for simple boilerplate, or to troubleshoot issues/docs. I've dipped into agentic work now and again, but never been very impressed with the output (well, that there is any functioning output is insanely impressive, but it isn't code I want to be on the hook for complaining). I hear a lot of people saying the same, but similarly a bunch of people I respect saying they barely write code a…

I still write code but do not push everything off to the agent. Try my best to write small tasks. ~20% of the time I have to get in there. If someone says they're absolutely not writing a line of code they must have amazing guardrails.

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#142

Post by monooso »

lbreakjai wrote: post #109

We're going to do it again, aren't we? We're going to take something simple and sensible ("write tests first", "small composable modules", etc.), give it a fancy complicated name ("Behavior-Constrained Implementation Lifecycle pattern", "Boundary-Scoped Processing Constructs pattern", etc.), and create an entire industry of consultants and experts selling books and enterprise coaching around it, each swearing they ha…

I'm confused. Are you criticising the article, or simply expressing concern for what may happen?

The context suggests the former, but your criticisms bear no relation to the linked content. If anything, your edict to "write tests first" is even more succinctly expressed as "Red/green TDD".

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#143

Post by Madmallard »

logicprog wrote: post #69
Madmallard wrote: post #56

patterns that may help increase subjective perception of reliability from non-deterministic text generators trained on the theft of millions of developer's work for the past 25 years.

I think it's nonsensical to insist that it would only be a subjective improvement. The tests either exist and ensure that there aren't bugs in certain areas, or they don't. The agent is either in a feedback loop with those tests and continues to work until it has satisfied them or it doesn't.

That sounds like a very specific implementation strategy related to TDD

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#144

Post by mgkimsal »

jvidalv wrote: post #131
maciusr wrote: post #116

[flagged]

I work as a consultant so I navigate different codebases, old to new, typescript to javascript, massive to small, frontend only to full stack. Claude Code experience is massively different depending on the codebase. Good E2E strongly typed codebase? Can one shot any feature, some small QA, some polishing and it's usually good to ship. Plain javascript? Object oriented? Injection? Overall magic? Claude can work there…

"...typescript to javascript"

Country AND Western!

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#145

Post by sidcool »

simonw wrote: post #95
sidcool wrote: post #63

PSA: This is sponsored by Augment code.

Only until March 6th, I'm selling site-wide sponsorship a week at a time. Those sponsors get no influence over what I write about at all - I started this entire guide without even mentioning it to them.

Thanks, I did not mean it as an accusation of bias. Just something I saw on the page and shared. Appreciate you writing this and sharing.

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#146

Post by simonw »

63stack wrote: post #140
lbreakjai wrote: post #109

We're going to do it again, aren't we? We're going to take something simple and sensible ("write tests first", "small composable modules", etc.), give it a fancy complicated name ("Behavior-Constrained Implementation Lifecycle pattern", "Boundary-Scoped Processing Constructs pattern", etc.), and create an entire industry of consultants and experts selling books and enterprise coaching around it, each swearing they ha…

People are rushing to be the first one to coin something and hit it big. Imagine the amount of $$$ you could get for being an "expert ai consultant" in this space. There was already another attempt at agentic patterns earlier: https://agentic-patterns.com/ Absolute hot air garbage.

Which pieces of my writing are garbage?

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#147

Post by xXSLAYERXx »

wreath wrote: post #110
badestrand wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it _can_ be faster to code than to instruct but it takes me significantly less effort to write the prompt than the actual code. So a few hours of concentrates coding leave me completely drained of energy while after a few hours with the agents I still have a lot of mental energy. That's the huge difference for me and I don't want to go back.

Thats interesting. While i do get mentally tired after a session of focused coding, i feel like i have accomplished something. Using AI for coding feels similar to spending hours doom scrolling reels. Less engaging but Im drained as hell at the end.

I'd argue you still have to stay engaged, if not more-so. Its a different type of engagement. Look at you: You're the CTO now.

Re: Agentic Engineering Patterns

#150

Post by xXSLAYERXx »

lvl155 wrote: post #96

People come up with the most insane workflow for agents. They complete about 80% of the work but that last 20% is basically equivalent to you doing the whole thing piece wise (with the help of AI). Except the latter gives you peace of mind. I am still not sold on agentic coding. We’ll probably get there within the next couple of years.

I'm curious what you've used it for? I was firmly in your camp until about a month ago when i used codex to dust off an old side project. I hadn't touched the project in six months. This was literally my first prompt:

"Explain the codebase to a newcomer. What is the general structure, what are the important things to know, and what are some pointers for things to learn next?"

Once I saw the output I giddyup'd and haven't looked back.

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