Tagged “tools”
1 post.
When to use an agentic coding tool, not autocomplete
Use an agentic coding tool when the task spans several files and something other than your own reading can confirm it worked, and an inline assistant when you already know the code you want and only need it typed faster. The two are not competing products so much as two modes of working, and most of the major tools now ship both, so the choice is made per task rather than once at purchase. What actually separates them is who owns the task: an inline assistant reacts to your cursor and stops when you stop, while an agent takes a goal, plans, edits, runs things, reads the result and goes again. That autonomy is worth having when the work is broad and checkable, and a liability when it is small, rule-driven or risky to get wrong.