AI-Written Code Isn't Your Code

Last Wednesday at 11 PM, I was staring blankly at my screen in a WeWork: the CRM tool AI wrote for me had crashed, and I couldn't understand a single line of the error. It felt like babysitting someone else's car—it breaks down, and I don't even know how to pop the hood.

What is Agentic Coding, and Who's Falling Into the Trap

"Agentic Coding" is letting AI write code autonomously—I give the requirements, and AI plans, writes, and debugs the code on its own. Cursor Agent, Replit Agent, v0, and Bolt all fall into this category. My friend Wang Lei, an independent consultant, spent an afternoon last month building a booking system using Replit Agent in a co-working space in Hangzhou. He excitedly told me, "I never need to hire outsourced devs again." Two weeks later, a client reported incorrect payment calculations. He opened the code—over 600 lines, with variable names that were all AI-generated abbreviations. He messaged me: "This code isn't mine; I'm just keeping it safe for the AI." That’s the trap: we get something that runs, but we don't own it. We can't maintain it, can't change it, can't scale it. AI helps us cross the starting line, but we run out of breath as soon as the race begins.

Replication Cost & The Right Approach

Money: Cursor Pro is $20/month, Replit Core is $25/month, v0's free tier is enough. Time: 1-2 hours to build a prototype; maintenance time is unpredictable. Technical barrier: Zero basics needed to use—but that's exactly the problem. The less we understand code, the easier it is to get trapped. First step: Open cursor.com, download it, click "New File" to start. I also got stuck in this trap. Here's what I do now: - Only use it for prototype validation, not for production products. - After AI writes the code, I ask it to explain line by line until I understand. - Keep each functional module under 100 lines; if it's longer, I definitely can't manage it. Not everyone needs these tools. It's fine to skip them for now; I wait until I truly need to whip up a quick demo.

Advice by Stage

If I'm just starting out: I use v0 or Bolt to quickly spin up a page and see the effect, avoiding backend logic at first. Validating the idea is step one; code architecture comes later. If I have 1-2 clients: I don't use agentic coding to modify things clients are actively using. New features can have AI assistance, but the core process must be something someone can read and change. If I'm scaling up: I need a technical co-founder or a stable developer. Agentic coding is only good for internal tools and one-off scripts; using it for client-facing products means the code debt will eventually catch up with me.