Managing AI Coding Costs at Scale

Post by sandeepkd » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:39 PM UTC

ChoosesBarbecue wrote: post #23

sandeepkd wrote: post #14

I find this funny and interesting at some levels 1. Codex, Claude and others try to switch models being used at their level itself to manage the cost and outcomes 2. Now company like data bricks develops one more layer on the top of it to do the same task, of finding the base harness and applicable model Companies like Codex and Claude are focussing/investing heavily on to ensure that people are using their harness d…

... where in the article did they say they were using subscriptions? I'm fairly certain enterprises can't access subscription pricing in any case, they're all API costs (Anthropic doesn't support more than 150 on subscription pricing [0][1]). [0]: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9797531-what-is-the-e... [1]: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9266767-what-is-the-t...

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

extr wrote: post #16

I would be really curious to hear from devs at Databricks what the experience of development is like internally. I work at a small startup with essentially unlimited AI spend budget - the entire point is that I should be turning to it at every opportunity since our human labor is so expensive relative to tokens. So generally it's like: - Spend most time prioritizing/discussing what to do. - Once that's agreed, use Fa…

Post by BobbyJo » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

extr wrote: post #37

pizza234 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In our team's experience, the product of agents is generally The Homer (1). It does work, but it's vastly overengineered. When I personally want tight code, I have to spend a considerable amount of time adjusting it manually: - It needs to be trimmed down. In my experience, at least one agent I use struggles to produce minimalist designs, and it's very frustrating - I need to consider whether there are solutions base…

This was more true a few months ago but Fable has improved the situation considerably. Also just remember - minimalist code looks and feels great but customers do not read your code. I have caught myself many times providing "corrections" to abstractions that were already ~fine, just not perfect. The average SWE costs $200/hr. Careful you don't burn $50 worrying about code that will likely be rewritten or can be bett…

Post by gracehenry45 » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

BobbyJo wrote: post #55

extr wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was more true a few months ago but Fable has improved the situation considerably. Also just remember - minimalist code looks and feels great but customers do not read your code. I have caught myself many times providing "corrections" to abstractions that were already ~fine, just not perfect. The average SWE costs $200/hr. Careful you don't burn $50 worrying about code that will likely be rewritten or can be bett…

Minimalist code is necessary to keep AI agents working well for longer than a month on a system IME. At a certain point, their own machinations overwhelm them and they both slow down, and make worse and worse decisions.

Post by InsideOutSanta » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 8:41 PM UTC

pinkgolem wrote: post #39

sandeepkd wrote: post #14

I find this funny and interesting at some levels 1. Codex, Claude and others try to switch models being used at their level itself to manage the cost and outcomes 2. Now company like data bricks develops one more layer on the top of it to do the same task, of finding the base harness and applicable model Companies like Codex and Claude are focussing/investing heavily on to ensure that people are using their harness d…

Open ai is allowing subscription use, anthropic also paused the effort to stop subscription use.