---
title: "Coding agents"
type: "topic"
url: "https://aifordevs.org/topics/coding-agents"
markdown: "https://aifordevs.org/topics/coding-agents.md"
publisher: "AI for Devs"
license: "https://aifordevs.org/reuse"
attribution: "Credit AI for Devs and link to https://aifordevs.org/topics/coding-agents"
---

# Coding agents

Terminal and editor agents that read your repository, run commands, and open pull requests. How they plan, what they can touch, and how to give them the context they need.

## Articles

- [Best LLM for coding: November 2026 benchmarks, compared](https://aifordevs.org/articles/best-llm-for-coding.md): The best LLM for coding as of November 2026, by situation: agents, value, large repos, local hardware. Dated scores and who ran each benchmark. (2026-11-08)
- [What is an AI agent? The loop in code, and where it fails](https://aifordevs.org/articles/what-is-an-ai-agent.md): What is an AI agent? A tested agent loop in TypeScript, run offline against a scripted model, with traces of runaway loops, tool errors, and token growth. (2026-11-08)
- [What is an MCP server? Build and test one in TypeScript](https://aifordevs.org/articles/build-an-mcp-server.md): What is an MCP server? Build a tested TypeScript one with a confirmed write tool, debug it with MCP Inspector, and apply the spec's security requirements. (2026-11-08)

## Glossary terms

- [Agent](https://aifordevs.org/glossary/agent.md): An agent is a program that calls a model in a loop, runs the tools the model requests, and feeds the results back until a stop condition ends the loop. The tools and the stop condition set what the agent can do.
- [Agent loop](https://aifordevs.org/glossary/agent-loop.md): An agent loop is the code that sends the conversation to a model, runs any tool calls in the response, appends the results, and calls the model again. The loop ends when a response contains no tool calls or a limit is reached.
- [Context window](https://aifordevs.org/glossary/context-window.md): A context window is the maximum number of tokens a model can handle in one request, usually counting the prompt and the output together. Everything the model has to work with for that request has to fit inside it.
- [SWE-bench](https://aifordevs.org/glossary/swe-bench.md): SWE-bench is a benchmark that asks a model or agent to fix real GitHub issues by editing the repository, then runs the project's tests to check the patch. The original set has 2,294 problems from 12 Python repositories.
- [Tool calling](https://aifordevs.org/glossary/tool-calling.md): Tool calling is a model returning a structured request to run a function you defined, with arguments, instead of plain text. Your code runs the function and sends the result back, which is how an agent loop reaches systems outside the model.

## Platforms

- [Claude Code](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/claude-code.md): Agentic coding tool that works in your terminal, IDE, desktop app, and browser, and can run commands and edit files.
- [Codex](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/codex.md): OpenAI's coding agent, available as an open-source CLI, IDE extension, and cloud agent.
- [Cursor](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/cursor.md): AI code editor built on VS Code, with tab completion, an agent mode, and background agents.
- [GitHub Copilot](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/github-copilot.md): Completions, chat, and a coding agent that works from GitHub issues and opens pull requests.
- [Gemini CLI](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/gemini-cli.md): Open-source terminal agent that runs on Gemini models and supports MCP servers.
- [Aider](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/aider.md): Open-source pair programming in the terminal that edits files and commits changes to git.
- [Cline](https://aifordevs.org/platforms/cline.md): Open-source coding agent for VS Code that asks for approval before it edits files or runs commands.