AI Coding Agents Explained (With a Real Example)

A developer detailed how AI coding agents have evolved beyond autocomplete to handle entire multi-file changes, using the example of devlearningtools.com, which was built entirely through the terminal agent Claude Code. The writeup compares Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Copilot, and Windsurf, and includes common mistakes from real experience.

AI coding agents have moved past autocomplete: they can read an entire codebase, plan a multi-file change, write it, verify it, and ship it, mostly without step-by-step approval. I wrote up how that actually looks day to day, since this exact site devlearningtools.com is built entirely through a terminal agent Claude Code : request comes in as plain language, agent reads the existing code first, plans the change, writes it, verifies with a real build, then commits and confirms it's live. Also compares Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Copilot, and Windsurf, plus a Common Mistakes section from real experience. Full writeup: https://www.devlearningtools.com/blog/ai-coding-agents-explained https://www.devlearningtools.com/blog/ai-coding-agents-explained Curious what everyone else's actual workflow looks like.