Coding agents, with a spec in front of them
Technology
We use Cursor and other coding agents every day. The difference between speed and mess is whether the agent is working from a written spec or from one sentence typed into a chat box.
This is not a partnership. It is how we work, written down.
How we use it
Working with coding agents
- Spec first, code second
Requirements, then design, then tasks, each approved by a person before the agent writes anything. An agent can build the feature perfectly and still have no idea why it exists.
- The repo is the prompt
Rules, conventions, templates, and previous decisions steer an agent far more than any single instruction typed into a chat. The context you commit is the context it gets.
- Review does not get cheaper
Generated code still has to be read by someone who understands the system. What changes is where the hours go: less typing, more judgment.
