Dev warns: agents dump huge complexity into codebases, and prompts can't stop it
HildeKuehne · x · 2026-09-24
Developer alex35mil argues that people who don't read the code have no idea how much complexity agents dump into codebases. He keeps agents on a short leash, but when given broader tasks like personal dev tooling, they go "completely nuts" with defensive code. He's iterated on "don't overcomplicate shit" rules without reliable success, and guesses labs bias toward defensive code rather than risk missing edge cases — balancing that against complexity is still a human job.
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