Manifesto for AI Software Development: Code Is Cattle, Not Pets (metamagic.substack.com)

A new manifesto for AI software development argues that traditional code-centric engineering must evolve as code generation becomes cheap and disposable. Instead of treating code as precious “pets,” developers should view it as replaceable “cattle,” prioritizing clear, evolving specifications and requirements as the enduring assets. This shift emphasizes rapid prototyping, easy code creation and deletion, and focusing code reviews on behavioral outcomes rather than formatting or implementation details. The manifesto highlights the critical role of structured context, documentation, and measurable feedback loops to enable both human and AI comprehension. It advocates for stateless, functional, and strongly typed code patterns to enhance automatic error detection and predictability. By accelerating learning cycles with fast iteration, automated releases, and near-instant failure detection, AI-driven software projects can rapidly validate assumptions and adapt requirements based on real user data rather than preconceived plans. These principles signal a transformative change for the AI/ML community by redefining software development as a continuous, data-driven process centered on intent and system-level feedback, rather than monolithic codebases. Mastering these AI-native workflows promises to shape the future of software engineering for decades to come.