I gave four coding agents a $100 budget each to build a PDF editor
nielstron · hn · 2026-10-09
The author gave four coding agents a $100 budget each to independently build a PDF editor, comparing how they handle a real task. The blog post details each agent's performance and the remaining shortcomings of coding agents — from cost control and task decomposition to struggles with complex GUI requirements. The HN thread discusses agent reliability in practical development.
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