ai-first-engineering

AI-First Engineering

Use this skill when designing process, reviews, and architecture for teams shipping with AI-assisted code generation.

Process Shifts

Planning quality matters more than typing speed.
Eval coverage matters more than anecdotal confidence.
Review focus shifts from syntax to system behavior.

Architecture Requirements

Prefer architectures that are agent-friendly:

explicit boundaries
stable contracts
typed interfaces
deterministic tests

Avoid implicit behavior spread across hidden conventions.

Code Review in AI-First Teams

Review for:

behavior regressions
security assumptions
data integrity
failure handling
rollout safety

Minimize time spent on style issues already covered by automation.

Hiring and Evaluation Signals

Strong AI-first engineers:

decompose ambiguous work cleanly
define measurable acceptance criteria
produce high-signal prompts and evals
enforce risk controls under delivery pressure

Testing Standard

Raise testing bar for generated code:

required regression coverage for touched domains
explicit edge-case assertions
integration checks for interface boundaries