A 7-Level Scale for Reading Code in the AI Coding Era
mattpocockuk · x · 2026-07-05
TypeScript educator Matt Pocock argues that the debate over whether to read code in the AI coding era shouldn't be a binary choice, but rather a 7-level scale: from "reviewing every diff line-by-line", to "scanning diffs for key lines", "understanding the why of each PR", "spot-checking PRs", "not reading code but periodically auditing the repo", "skipping code but checking agent traces to improve the system", all the way to "ignoring both code and system, leaving everything to the model".
He rates himself mostly at levels 4 and 5, moving up for high-risk projects but rarely hitting level 1. This scale has sparked discussions on best practices for code review in AI-assisted programming.
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