Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#1

Post by jawuilp » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

With all the recent progress in coding assistants, I've been wondering whether AI-powered autocomplete is still an important part of developers' workflows.

I personally never got into the habit of using it very heavily. By the time I started having access to decent AI autocomplete tools, things like Cline and Augment were already around, so I ended up relying more on assistants instead.

That made me curious about how other people use it today.

Do you still use Cursor Tab, Copilot, or something similar?

If you also use coding assistants, do you find yourself using AI autocomplete less, or do the two complement each other?

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#2

Post by Alexzhenzhang » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#3

Post by xpct » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 3:53 PM UTC

I've used auto-complete back in 2022-2024 or so and really liked it. At one point, had to code offline and realized the speed up was mostly just a placebo in terms of productivity. I don't expect for auto-complete to have changed much, but since I don't delegate large tasks to agents, I've thought of trying it out again.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#4

Post by antoineMoPa » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 4:18 PM UTC

I don't find myself needing to open a code editor anymore. I ask agents to code and review using some custom review tooling I had agents build. I bother less and less about code details.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#5

Post by jMyles » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 5:19 PM UTC

I miss autocomplete; it was really fun a couple of years ago.

What I'd really like is an autocomplete (or pseudo code to language-of-choice) interface, with my agent continually adding the interactions to its context, so that I can chat with it about high-level project goals as the code matures.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#6

Post by chronicler » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

i haven't looked at code in months

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#7

Post by jawuilp » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

xpct wrote: post #3

I've used auto-complete back in 2022-2024 or so and really liked it. At one point, had to code offline and realized the speed up was mostly just a placebo in terms of productivity. I don't expect for auto-complete to have changed much, but since I don't delegate large tasks to agents, I've thought of trying it out again.

I get what you mean. I don't think autocomplete has changed radically either, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

What autocomplete/editor were you using when you felt the productivity gain was mostly a placebo? I've mostly used it in VS Code and a bit in Antigravity.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#8

Post by jawuilp » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

antoineMoPa wrote: post #4

I don't find myself needing to open a code editor anymore. I ask agents to code and review using some custom review tooling I had agents build. I bother less and less about code details.

Interesting, I've had almost the opposite experience. I ended up going back to a code editor because CLI agents tend to scatter my attention quite a bit, especially when working on apps with lots of different flows. I prefer a more controlled and focused environment.

Do you also delegate small changes to agents, or do you still make those manually?

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#9

Post by jawuilp » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 5:48 PM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #5

I miss autocomplete; it was really fun a couple of years ago. What I'd really like is an autocomplete (or pseudo code to language-of-choice) interface, with my agent continually adding the interactions to its context, so that I can chat with it about high-level project goals as the code matures.

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: Are you still using AI code autocomplete?

#10

Post by xpct » Wed, Aug 26, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

jawuilp wrote: post #7

xpct wrote: post #3

I've used auto-complete back in 2022-2024 or so and really liked it. At one point, had to code offline and realized the speed up was mostly just a placebo in terms of productivity. I don't expect for auto-complete to have changed much, but since I don't delegate large tasks to agents, I've thought of trying it out again.

I get what you mean. I don't think autocomplete has changed radically either, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What autocomplete/editor were you using when you felt the productivity gain was mostly a placebo? I've mostly used it in VS Code and a bit in Antigravity.

I predominantly used GitHub's product (it had integrations for VS, VS code, jetbrains), and Supermaven. Later, I tried one of the earlier Cursor versions as well.