Habits of great AI coders — Code with AI
The agent is fast. Your habits keep it safe.
AI agents write code faster than any human — including code with bugs, security holes or quietly-deleted features. The people getting the most out of these tools aren't the best prompters; they're the ones with good guardrails.
📝 Read the full lesson notes
The agent is fast. Your habits keep it safe.
AI agents write code faster than any human — including code with bugs, security holes or quietly-deleted features. The people getting the most out of these tools aren't the best prompters; they're the ones with good guardrails.
The seven habits
- Git from minute one — commit after every working step. It's your undo button for the whole project.
- Plan before big changes — use plan mode; approve the approach first.
- Small tasks — one feature or fix per request beats "build my whole app."
- Tests are the referee — ask the agent to write and run tests; "done" means tests pass.
- Read the diff — skim every change before accepting, especially deletions.
- Project instructions file — CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / rules so you stop repeating yourself.
- Secrets stay secret — API keys go in .env files that are git-ignored, never in prompts or code.
Task sizing
Weak: Build me a full Airbnb clone with payments, messaging, reviews and an admin panel.
Strong: Step 1: set up the project and a listings page that shows 6 sample listings from a JSON file. Run it and confirm it loads. We'll add search next.
Why: Small verified steps compound. Giant requests collapse.
Part of 💻 Code with AI in the free AI Bootcamp.