Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#1

Post by ex-aws-dude » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 3:43 PM UTC

Sometimes I catch myself doing this and it feels pretty silly in retrospect

Or sometimes they fix a bug and I instinctively go back to tell them the fix worked even though I could just close the session at that point.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#2

Post by jr_isidore » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 3:57 PM UTC

All the time. Sometimes they do an absolutely bang-up job.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#3

Post by 1337h4xx » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 3:59 PM UTC

The model's reward function is its own reward. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#4

Post by pradeep1177 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

Me: Thanks! Claude, you did a great job.

Claude Code: Anytime. I'm glad we nailed it together. Happy to help. bla bla bla....

Me: Thanks! Codex, you did a great job.

Codex: Understood.

It finally clicked to me when Peter Steinberger mentioned that 50% of Codex's workforce is European.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#5

Post by dyingkneepad » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

Only for the models where I'm not paying per token.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#6

Post by drstewart » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 6:17 PM UTC

pradeep1177 wrote: post #4

Me: Thanks! Claude, you did a great job. Claude Code: Anytime. I'm glad we nailed it together. Happy to help. bla bla bla.... Me: Thanks! Codex, you did a great job. Codex: Understood. It finally clicked to me when Peter Steinberger mentioned that 50% of Codex's workforce is European.

Can't relate. ChatGPT is so much more snivelling than Gemini, for example.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#7

Post by preetham_rangu » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#8

Post by lgl » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

Not so much "thank you" but I find myself telling it stuff like "could you please do x etc" a lot.

I've come to terms with it. If AGI ever comes it'll go like hey, at least this sack of meat said please.. Let's kill it last :-)

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#9

Post by jryan49 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 7:27 PM UTC

Rather not waste tokens. Saying thank you literally costs you money.

Re: Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

#10

Post by mejutoco » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 8:55 PM UTC

I dont, but sometimes I say please.

Best regards