Building a Custom Minimal Coding Agent: Lessons from Three Years of LLM-Assisted Development
By
SatvikBeri
Fresh out the oven, still warm. Top of the tray.
Summary
The article details the author's three-year journey using various LLM-powered coding assistants, from early ChatGPT usage to modern coding agents like Claude Code and Codex. The author shares their experience building a custom, opinionated, and minimal coding agent from scratch, discussing the evolution of coding assistance tools, personal preferences for different platforms, and lessons learned throughout the development process. The content focuses on practical insights about coding agent development, tool comparisons, and personal workflow optimization in software development.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIn the past three years, I've been using LLMs for assisted coding.
If you read this, you probably went through the same evolution: from copying and pasting code into ChatGPT, to Copilot auto-completions (which never worked for me), to Cursor, and finally the new breed of coding agent harnesses like Claude Code, Codex, Amp, Droid, and opencode that became our daily drivers in 2025.
I preferred Claude Code for most of my work. It was the first thing I tried back in April after using Cursor for a year and a half.
It's not much, but it's mine
You might also wanna read
Building a Software Factory with Claude Code: From AI-Assisted Coding to Agentic Development
This article provides a comprehensive guide on building a software factory using Claude Code and other AI coding tools. It covers the evolut
freecodecamp.org·4d ago
How I Used Coding Agents to Automate My AI Research Work in Copilot Applied Science
An AI researcher shares their experience using coding agents to automate intellectual work, specifically building agents that automate parts
GitHub·2mo ago
Practical Guide to Using AI Coding Tools for Responsible Development
The article provides practical guidance for developers on responsibly integrating AI coding tools into their workflow. Based on two years of
Smashing Magazine·4mo ago
How AI-Assisted Coding Enabled Shipping a Go Service Without Prior Language Expertise
A technical architect shares his experience using AI tools (like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT) to build a working service in Go, a programming
Cursor, Codex, and Claude Code compared: Which AI coding assistant actually boosts developer speed
A tech writer compares three AI coding assistants — Cursor, Codex (GitHub Copilot), and Claude Code — over a 30-day trial period. The articl
xda-developers.com·3d ago
AI Integration in Software Development: How Claude Code and Agentic Workflows Are Transforming the Terminal into a Conversational Interface
The article discusses how AI is transforming software development by integrating large language models (LLMs) into development workflows, pa
Prototypr·4mo ago