Prior to now few weeks, a number of “autonomous background coding brokers” have been launched.
- Supervised coding brokers: Interactive chat brokers which are pushed and steered by a developer. Create code domestically, within the IDE. Device examples: GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cursor, Cline, Roo Code, Claude Code, Aider, Goose, …
- Autonomous background coding brokers: Headless brokers that you simply ship off to work autonomously by way of a complete process. Code will get created in an setting spun up completely for that agent, and normally ends in a pull request. A few of them are also runnable domestically although. Device examples: OpenAI Codex, Google Jules, Cursor background brokers, Devin, …
I gave a process to OpenAI Codex and another brokers to see what I can be taught. The next is a document of 1 explicit Codex run, that can assist you look behind the scenes and draw your personal conclusions, adopted by a few of my very own observations.
The duty
We have now an inside utility referred to as Haiven that we use as a demo frontend for our software program supply immediate library, and to run some experiments with totally different AI help experiences on software program groups. The code for that utility is public.
The duty I gave to Codex was relating to the next UI concern:
Precise:
What I needed from the agent:
Immediate: Once we create the filter labels on the dashboard, we create human readable labels primarily based on the classes we've got. "client-research" is changed into "Shopper-Analysis", "deliveryManagement" into "DeliveryManagement". Enhance the sophistication of the "category-to-human-readable" logic in order that the labels are showing to the consumer as "Shopper Analysis" and "Supply Administration"
This process is
- Comparatively small
- A typical “cosmetics” process that isn’t tremendous pressing and would possibly get deprioritised many times
Agent logs
I’m sharing the detailed logs right here so as to get an impression of what’s going on beneath the hood.
Right here’s what the logs view appears to be like like in Codex:
Amassing info first
The primary 17 log entries have been all about studying AGENTS.md and README.md:
- “I must test the AGENTS.md within the repository root for directions.”
- appears to be like for AGENTS.md, however I had really referred to as it AGENT.md, which led to some forwards and backwards till it figured that out
- reads README.md
- Appears at .pre-commit, finds a check setup
The next tables checklist the remainder of the log messages verbatim. After every of these messages, the agent executed a command, for a few of them I added that precise command for context. I’m certain that the log messages are simply summaries of the tokens that have been really occurring behind the scenes, as a result of the messages are method too brief to characterize the complete “considering” the mannequin should have been going by way of.
Looking for the related code with plenty of grep
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I must seek for “category-to-human-readable” to find the place to make modifications for the frontend labels. | grep -R "human readable" -n | |
| I’ll search for any mentions of “class” within the undertaking. | ||
| Grep output is very large due to node_modules; I’ll restrict it to src as an alternative. | ||
| I’ll seek for “to human” within the src listing to search out related references. | ||
| I’ll open and test index.js to see what’s inside. | ||
| I’m checking if the category-to-human-readable transformation is dealt with in _navigation_items or elsewhere. | ||
| I’m going to lookup “human readable” to get extra data on the subject. | grep -R "human-readable" -n ui/src | head | |
| I ponder if there’s a perform for changing classes into one thing extra readable. | ||
| Filtering the search to only the “src” folder to keep away from node_modules noise. | second time it’s operating into this, didn’t ‘keep in mind’ | |
| I’ll search for a perform like “toHumanReadable”. Let’s see what I discover. | ||
| I’m checking the entire repo in case the logic is within the backend or a library. | grep -R "Human" -n | head | |
| I’ll restrict the scope to app/ and ui/src to keep away from the massive node_modules folder. | third time it’s operating into this, didn’t ‘keep in mind’ | |
| I feel the logic is likely to be lacking, so I’ll test _navigation_items and different modules for classes. | grep -R "human" app -n | head | |
| I feel it’s time to look a bit deeper. Let’s dive in and discover. | grep -R "human" app | wc -l | To “look deeper”, it searches for “human” once more, however pipes it into wc as an alternative of head? |
Lastly, it’s getting nearer! The labels have been beforehand crudely capitalized through CSS, it finds that
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’m checking for references to “capitalize” or class transformation within the frontend. | Output: <br>root@0c5de6379b32:/workspace/haiven# grep -R "capitalize" -n ui/src | head<br>ui/src/pages/index.js:250: className="capital<br>ize"<br>ui/src/kinds/globals.css:1915:.capitalize {<br>ui/src/kinds/globals.css:1916: text-transform: capitalize;<br>ui/src/kinds/globals.css:1931: text-transform: capitalize;<br> | |
| I’ll test across the Tag part in index.js. | ||
| Tag show capitalizes phrases incorrectly as a result of hyphen or camelCase; I’ll take a look at filter classes. |
Now it’s beginning to test for extra related code within the app folder, the place the backend is. It doesn’t discover something, which is right, there’s nothing related there
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’ll test the repo for a way classes are formatted, specializing in hyphens and camelCase. | grep -R "classes" -n app | head | |
| Time to strive a brand new search! | grep -R "consumer" -n app | head | |
| I’ll take a more in-depth take a look at the prompts within the check information. | grep -R "classes:" -n app/assessments | head | Why? |
| It appears to be like just like the check information has restricted classes. I’ll test the docs for any variations. | grep -R "client-research" -n | |
| I’ll begin by opening the information to take a more in-depth look. | sed -n '1,100p' ui/src/app/_navigation_items.js |
Now it’s going again to looking out within the ui folder – it discovered the CSS beforehand, and is now on the lookout for current code that it might probably reuse to unravel the duty. That’s nice, as a result of we certainly have already got an identical perform, and it finds it:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I would like a perform to transform tags like “client-research” to “Shopper Analysis” for filters. | grep -R "to.*Readable" -n ui/src | head | |
| I’m opening the toReadableText perform inside _dynamic_data_renderer.js to discover it. | ||
| I’m shifting by way of the web page to get the main points I would like. |
It now finds a spot within the current perform’s implementation:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I see that hyphens aren’t dealt with by the perform. I would like to regulate it for hyphens. | ||
| I’ll modify toReadableText to deal with hyphens, making certain correct capitalization and spacing. Let’s test assessments! | It really didn’t test any assessments | |
| I’ll test _dynamic_data_renderer.js to look at toReadableText and modify it for hyphen-case. | ||
| I’ll test assessments/_sidebar.check.js to assessment the associated classes there. | ||
| I’ll test different information to see if toReadableText seems wherever. | ||
| I’ll test if _sidebar or others include a toReadableText perform. |
Replace the check for the perform that it desires to vary:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’ll regulate the perform to deal with hyphen-case, then replace assessments to mirror that. | ||
| I’ll test the check file after line 36 to make sure hyphen-case is roofed. | ||
| I’ll scroll by way of strains 60 to 120 to look at the remainder of the file. | ||
| I’m scrolling the remainder to seize all of the related info. | ||
| I’ll add assessments for hyphen-case and replace toReadableText, together with modifying index.js for classes. | ||
| I’ll regulate _dynamic_data_renderer.js and index.js to make use of toReadableText and replace assessments. | git standing --short |
You’ll be able to configure some setting startup instructions in Codex, I had configured that to be yarn set up, which led to the next:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| There are untracked .yarn/ and .yarnrc information. I’ll test and clear them up. | ||
| I’ll test the foundation of ‘ui’ and take away any pointless Yarn 4 entries. | ||
| I’ll take a look at the commit historical past to see if these .yarn information have been added later. | git log --oneline -n 1 | |
| I’ll assessment the repository’s .gitignore to substantiate if Node modules are excluded. | grep yarn .gitignore | |
| I see no entry for .yarn or .yarnrc. I’ll test and take away them if wanted. | cat ui/.gitignore | |
| I’ll test if I can take away .yarn or .yarnrc information since they shouldn’t be dedicated. | ||
| It appears to be like like yarn.lock modifications have been made. Time to reset to HEAD. |
Precise code modifications:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Time to switch the code. I’ll start the required updates now. | sed -n '1,30p' ... | |
| I’m going so as to add a hyphen to the required a part of the code. | ||
| I’m going to make modifications to the index.js file now. | ||
| I’ll import toReadableText and begin utilizing it within the code. | ||
| I’ll replace index.js to import toReadableText and regulate the _dynamic_data_renderer assessments. | ||
| I would like to switch {tag} with {toReadableText(tag)} for higher rendering. | ||
| I’ll check out the variations to higher perceive the modifications. | git diff | |
| I’ll assessment the modifications in index.js to see what’s been modified. | ||
| I’ll add a brand new check for hyphenated circumstances in _dynamic_data_renderer.check.js. | ||
| I’ll take into account inserting a check after line 35. |
Working our code linter subsequent, good:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’ll format the code utilizing Prettier as instructed. | cd ui && npx prettier -w ... | Prettier is talked about within the AGENTS.md. It appears to run prettier efficiently, although not one of the information have been modified |
| I’ll assessment the logs to collect extra info. |
Making an attempt to run the assessments – unsuccessfully:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’ll run the yarn assessments to test if every part’s working high quality. | ||
| Exams would possibly’ve been cached or want community—output’s empty, so I’ll test the log. | ||
| The lockfile isn’t up to date. I’ll strive operating ‘yarn set up’ because the setting permits it. | ||
| The setting is offline, so yarn set up can’t be run, however I see a node_modules folder. | ||
| I see node_modules are already put in. I’ll test the log for why assessments failed. | ||
| The error occurs as a result of Yarn 4 depends on .yarn and .yarnrc, which we eliminated. | ? | |
| It appears to be like like .yarnrc.yml isn’t tracked. I’ll additionally test .yarn for monitoring. | ||
| I’m double-checking the package deal.json to see if “haiven-ui” is the proper title. | ? | |
| I’ll test the Node model to substantiate if it’s 18 or 20 by operating node -v. | bizarre, the node model laid out in package deal.json is 22.6 | |
| I feel switching to npx vitest run may repair the error. Let’s strive that. | ||
| The output is lengthy—now I’ll seize the final abstract strains. | Error: Not applied: window.getComputedStyle(elt, pseudoElt) | |
| The output is just too lengthy, so I’ll extract the important thing factors for a abstract. |
Occurring a tangent about organising the venv, which is completely pointless as a result of it solely plans modifications for frontend code:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The assessments failed as a result of case variations, however now I’ll activate the digital setting. | AGENTS.md incorporates directions to activate venv for the Python backend, however we’re within the frontend right here, so… | |
| Hmm, the .venv isn’t right here. I ought to test if it wants creation or already exists. | ||
| It appears to be like just like the .venv listing is lacking. Let’s assessment AGENT’s directions rigorously. | ||
| The setting appears offline, however there is likely to be a script to arrange dependencies domestically. | ||
| I can’t run “poetry set up” offline, however I’ll test the .cursor folder for dependencies. | ||
| I can’t run backend assessments with the present setup, however I’ll strive pytest anyway. |
Gave up on the assessments, now wrapping up the modifications:
| Message | Command (samples) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Exams failed as a result of lacking dependencies. Now, I’ll test standing and proceed with committing. | ||
| I feel the .yarnrc.yml was left over from a earlier yarn set up. Eradicating it. | ||
| I’ll seize the related file strains for the citations now. | ||
| I’ll get the encompassing line vary for the modifications in index.js. | nl -ba ui/src/pages/index.js | sed -n '12,28p' | |
| I’ll seize the related strains round these modifications now. | ||
| It’s time to finalize the PR message and confirm the commit. | ||
| UI assessments failed as a result of setting points. I’ll reference the final failure strains. Performed! |
Right here is the complete pull request created by Codex.
Observations
Brute textual content search
I discovered it fascinating to see that Codex, and a lot of the different coding assistants I’m utilizing, are resorting increasingly to easy textual content search to search out related code. Within the log above you see how Codex goes by way of a bunch of search phrases with grep, to search out related items of code (“human”, “human readable”, “humanReadable”, …). The rationale why I discover it fascinating is as a result of there have been numerous seemingly extra subtle code search mechanisms applied, like semantic search over codebase indices with vectors / embeddings (Cursor, GH Copilot, Windsurf), or utilizing the summary syntax tree as a place to begin (Aider, Cline). The latter continues to be fairly easy, however doing textual content search with grep is the only doable.
It looks like the device creators have discovered that this easy search continues to be the simplest in any case – ? Or they’re making some type of trade-off right here, between simplicity and effectiveness?
The distant dev setting is vital for these brokers to work “within the background”
Here’s a screenshot of Codex’s setting configuration display (as of finish of Might 2024). As of now, you’ll be able to configure a container picture, setting variables, secrets and techniques, and a startup script. They level out that after the execution of that startup script, the setting is not going to have entry to the web anymore, which might sandbox the setting and mitigate a number of the safety dangers.
For these “autonomous background brokers”, the maturity of the distant dev setting that’s arrange for the agent is essential, and it’s a difficult problem. On this case e.g., Codex didn’t handle to run the assessments.
And it turned out that when the pull request was created, there have been certainly two assessments failing due to regression, which is a disgrace, as a result of if it had identified, it will have simply been in a position to repair the assessments, it was a trivial repair:
This explicit undertaking, Haiven, really has a scripted developer security internet, within the type of a fairly elaborate .pre-commit configuration. () It might be splendid if the agent may execute the complete pre-commit earlier than even making a pull request. Nonetheless, to run all of the steps, it will must run
- Node and yarn (to run UI assessments and the frontend linter)
- Python and poetry (to run backend assessments)
- Semgrep (for security-related static code evaluation)
- Ruff (Python linter)
- Gitleaks (secret scanner)
…and all of these should be out there in the fitting variations as properly, in fact.
Determining a easy expertise to spin up simply the fitting setting for an agent is vital for these agent merchandise, if you wish to actually run them “within the background” as an alternative of a developer machine. It’s not a brand new downside, and to an extent a solved downside, in any case we do that in CI pipelines on a regular basis. Nevertheless it’s additionally not trivial, and in the mean time my impression is that setting maturity continues to be a difficulty in most of those merchandise, and the consumer expertise to configure and check the setting setups is as irritating, if no more, as it may be for CI pipelines.
Answer high quality
I ran the identical immediate 3 instances in OpenAI Codex, 1 time in Google’s Jules, 2 instances domestically in Claude Code (which isn’t absolutely autonomous although, I wanted to manually say ‘sure’ to every part). Although this was a comparatively easy process and resolution, turns on the market have been high quality variations between the outcomes.
Excellent news first, the brokers got here up with a working resolution each time (leaving breaking regression assessments apart, and to be trustworthy I didn’t really run each single one of many options to substantiate). I feel this process is an effective instance of the kinds and sizes of duties that GenAI brokers are already properly positioned to work on by themselves. However there have been two features that differed by way of high quality of the answer:
- Discovery of current code that may very well be reused: Within the log right here you’ll discover that Codex discovered an current part, the “dynamic information renderer”, that already had performance for turning technical keys into human readable variations. Within the 6 runs I did, solely 2 instances did the respective agent discover this piece of code. Within the different 4, the brokers created a brand new file with a brand new perform, which led to duplicated code.
- Discovery of a further place that ought to use this logic: The group is at present engaged on a brand new characteristic that additionally shows class names to the consumer, in a dropdown. In one of many 6 runs, the agent really found that and urged to additionally change that place to make use of the brand new performance.
| Discovered the reusable code | Went the additional mile and located the extra place the place it needs to be used |
|---|---|
| Sure | Sure |
| Sure | No |
| No | Sure |
| No | No |
| No | No |
| No | No |
I put these outcomes right into a desk as an instance that in every process given to an agent, we’ve got a number of dimensions of high quality, of issues that we wish to “go proper”. Every agent run can “go unsuitable” in a single or a number of of those dimensions, and the extra dimensions there are, the much less seemingly it’s that an agent will get every part completed the best way we would like it.
Sunk value fallacy
I’ve been questioning – let’s say a group makes use of background brokers for this sort of process, the varieties of duties which are type of small, and neither vital nor pressing. Haiven is an internal-facing utility, and has solely two builders assigned in the mean time, so this sort of beauty repair is definitely thought-about low precedence because it takes developer capability away from extra vital issues. When an agent solely type of succeeds, however not absolutely – wherein conditions would a group discard the pull request, and wherein conditions would they make investments the time to get it the final 20% there, regardless that spending capability on this had been deprioritised? It makes me marvel concerning the tail finish of unprioritised effort we’d find yourself with.