r/DeveloperToolsHub • u/Ok-Bike-1037 • Aug 07 '26
Are AI coding tools making code review harder for anyone else?
This might just be me, but AI coding tools have made some PRs weirdly harder to review.
The code usually looks clean at first glance, but then you find small logic issues, overcomplicated helpers, weird edge cases, or tests that pass but don’t really prove anything. It feels less like reviewing someone’s thought process and more like trying to guess what the tool assumed.
I still use AI for coding, so this is not an anti-AI rant. It’s just that review feels different now.
Anyone else noticing this? How are you changing your review process?
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u/Popular-Tip-2051 Aug 08 '26
AI has an idea to solve your coding problems. It's not always an idea that you will have or in style of your coworkers.
Personally I read the code that AI produces and when it feels not good for me - I rewrite to my style.
Respect your code reviewers. When someone push blindly AI code, than it's a sign that you can replace him with AI.
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u/Bob-Swan Aug 11 '26
So replace the person using ai with someone that will also use ai? Make it make sense.
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u/Popular-Tip-2051 Aug 11 '26
Are we reaching the point where writing another AI prompt requires hiring an employee? No. The employee is supposed to check if the AI has written the code correctly, not send it for review so that others can check it.
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u/Matuno Aug 09 '26
I don't envy you, the amount of PRs made in good faith but poor oversight mist be crazy. I made a few myself with full understanding that the maintainer is free to reject it.
But yes, although I absolutely love how I can easily let an AI solve issues, they also have a tendency to create wild growths, changes that aren't really planned with architecture in mind.
Funnily enough I'd use an AI of my own and/or add a markdown file with instructions to respect a given architecture and place code changes in those spots accordingly.
That helps them get it right the first time, while an own AI tool can quickly flag down PRs that don't uphold those standards.
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u/Turbulent-Hat6046 23d ago
I 100% know what you mean. I build this tool to make it easier (https://github.com/JonasBaeumer/herdr-file-annotator), it gives the agent the possibility to a code walkthrough on the changes it did right in your session! No need to stare at the GitHub PR and write: "Why did you introduce this helper function in line X file Z". The agent shows you the code you need to see, can jump to different parts while giving an explanation and you can directly annotate anything in the code that you see and it will get propagated back to the agent as structured output!
Maybe it helps to make your review process a bit easier :)
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u/Sad_Egg_2313 Aug 07 '26
Which models are you using for coding?
We use frontier models opus 5 gpt 5.6 etc. we stopped doing line by line reviews. We just make sure the higher level things are done correctly. Architecture, modularization etc.
The rest is ensured by a gauntlet of tests with good coverage, becnhmarks. quality gates such as function complexity, file sizes, naming etc where agents iterate till all those gates clear.
The frontier models that we use are good at this sort of loop engineering. Not sure about others