CODING AGENT HARNESSES

LEARNING GOALS A coding agent is an agent whose main job is to read, write, and change computer programs. It is an especially good teaching example, because software has something many other kinds of work lack, which is a fast and objective way to check whether the work is correct. In this chapter, you will learn about terminal-based and editor-based coding agents, constraints that make generated code more reliable, verification gates, and lessons that teams report from large agent-built codebases. THE APPRENTICE CARPENTER PICTURE Imagine you hire an apprentice carpenter to build a bookshelf. If you simply say build me a bookshelf and walk away, you may return to find something wobbly, the wrong size, or built with the wrong wood. If you instead hand over measured plans, say which tools to use, require a level to be placed on every shelf, and ask to inspect each stage before the next begins, the result is far more dependable. A coding agent is the apprentice, and the harness is the set of plans, rules, and inspections you wrap around the apprentice. The model supplies the skill, and the harness supplies the discipline.