AI coding agents' smallest diffs can be the most dangerous, warns developer

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A developer writing for DEV Community argues that the push to make AI coding agents produce minimal code has introduced a hidden risk: small, clean-looking diffs that are never properly tested. While oversized AI-generated code is a well-known problem, the author warns that aggressively minimising output causes edge-case handling and failure-path tests to quietly disappear. A compact five-line change to a payment or authentication path can carry far greater risk than a lengthy internal script, meaning code size alone is a poor measure of danger. To address this, the developer built an open-source tool called Guardsman, which assigns a risk tier to every change before any code is written and requires that tests be actually executed within the session rather than deferred. The tool also replaces informal TODO comments with structured log entries that include mandatory severity ratings and revisit triggers.

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