Best AI coding agents (the ones that finish the ticket)

If the IDE post is “where you sit,” this is “who you send down the hallway.”

Claude Code

Best general agent if you live in git and a terminal. It can read the repo, run tests, and keep going until the diff is boring. Use it for refactors and chores you would otherwise postpone until the heat death of the company.

Cursor agents / cloud agents

Best when you already write in Cursor and you want the same rules, MCP, and repo context. Good for “fix this page” jobs on a site like this one.

OpenAI Codex

Best if you like assigning tasks instead of chatting in an editor. Treat it like a queue, not a muse.

GitHub Copilot Workspace / agent bits

Best when the ticket already lives on GitHub. Issue → draft PR is the dream. The dream is sometimes a draft.

Aider

Best open-source, git-native CLI. You bring your own keys. You keep the receipts.

Devin and the $500/mo club

Interesting as a glimpse of “autonomous teammate.” Expensive as a personality. Try the cheaper agents first unless someone else is paying.

Rule: never let an agent merge itself. You are still the adult in the room. That’s the whole employability pitch — see how to stay useful.