AI coding bloats codebases: models prefer new logic over extending existing code

morbidflood · reddit · 2026-09-16

A developer using both Claude and Codex at work observes that models prefer implementing new logic rather than extending existing facilities, causing codebase bloat under incremental use. They also note most benchmarks only evaluate greenfield projects, ignoring editing and incremental development, and smaller models are even worse at editing than implementing. They ask the community for workflow improvements.

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