AI coding agent
A tool that reads your project, plans changes, and edits real files on your machine — not just a chat window that suggests code.
Not the same as a chat window
A chat window hands you text to paste. An agent has your filesystem: it opens files, writes them, and can run commands — so a bad answer is a change on disk rather than a suggestion you ignore.
Where it bites
It only knows what it read this session. Ask about a file it never opened and you get a confident guess shaped like the projects it has seen before, not an answer about yours.
Covered in these lessons
Related terms
Where this comes up
Also written as agent, coding agent, ai agent. Checked 2026-08-06.