Async Coding Agents "From Scratch" (benanderson.work)

Cognition, the company behind the async coding agent Devin, has pivoted away from its initial product following a significant $400 million investment, shifting focus toward more effective background coding agents. With advancements in AI models like Claude and GPT-4, the utility of these agents has surged, allowing developers to automate tasks with minimal oversight. Asynchronous coding agents are now seen as essential in the AI landscape, shifting the bottleneck from model capabilities to better management of tasks and expectations. The article details the author's DIY project for building a customizable async coding agent that leverages serverless compute, Slack integration, and tools like Github. The project highlights how modern cloud-based services can manage permissions, maintain security, and provide seamless task execution, making it viable for developers to run their coding agents independently. This trend signals a growing demand for personalized solutions, indicating that future offerings will need to focus on flexibility and customization to compete effectively with established cloud agents from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.