AI-Assisted Development

AI tools can accelerate implementation, but they need project context and boundaries.

Give AI high-quality context

Before asking for code, provide:

  • the exact files to touch,
  • architectural constraints (app boundaries under apps/),
  • the expected user outcome,
  • and non-goals.

Better context produces smaller, safer patches.

Preferred prompt shape

Use prompts like:

  1. Goal: what user job should work after the change.
  2. Scope: allowed files/folders.
  3. Constraints: coding style, architecture, no breaking changes.
  4. Acceptance criteria: what must be true when done.

Guardrails to enforce

  • Keep business logic out of templates.
  • Don’t mix API and page concerns in the same module.
  • Use background tasks for long-running work.
  • Preserve existing env variable names unless migration is explicit.
  • Avoid speculative dependency additions.

Review checklist for AI-generated patches

  • Does code follow the repository boundaries?
  • Are failure paths handled and logged?
  • Are new settings/config documented?
  • Are migrations/tests included when required?
  • Can another dev understand the change without extra context?

Practical workflow

  1. Ask AI for a small first patch.
  2. Review and run checks.
  3. Iterate in narrow increments.
  4. Update docs before merge.

Small iterations beat one giant AI-generated diff every time.