A coding agent’s riskiest failure is saying done too soon
A that clearly fails is easy to handle because the person using it can see the problem right away. The harder case is when the result looks reasonable and the agent says the task is finished, but hidden problems remain.
The tests may be too weak, may be missed, files may be changed without need, or the fix may create another bug. The code may only work for the , where everything goes as expected.
This leaves a person still needing to review and clean up the work. The real question becomes whether the agent’s judgment that it is finished can be trusted, not just whether it can write code.
Key points
- A clear failure is easier to manage than a convincing but incomplete result.
- Weak tests, missed , unnecessary file changes, and new bugs can hide behind a finished-looking answer.
- Code that only handles the may break in real use.
- Trust depends on whether the agent can judge , not only whether it can write code.
- Reducing review too much may save tokens at first but create more cleanup later.