Ivan Constantino

Stoic in training, Man Utd fan, Mountain biker, and Ex-Astronerd. Nowadays eye right bugs. JavaScript & C# Developer.

[Greg Brockman @gdb]

Software development is undergoing a renaissance in front of our eyes.

If you haven't used the tools recently, you likely are underestimating what you're missing. Since December, there's been a step function improvement in what tools like Codex can do. Some great engineers at OpenAI yesterday told me that their job has fundamentally changed since December. Prior to then, they could use Codex for unit tests; now it writes essentially all the code and does a great deal of their operations and debugging. Not everyone has yet made that leap, but it's usually because of factors besides the capability of the model.

Every company faces the same opportunity now, and navigating it well — just like with cloud computing or the Internet — requires careful thought. This post shares how OpenAI is currently approaching retooling our teams towards agentic software development. We're still learning and iterating, but here's how we're thinking about it right now:

As a first step, by March 31st, we're aiming that:

(1) For any technical task, the tool of first resort for humans is interacting with an agent rather than using an editor or terminal.
(2) The default way humans utilize agents is explicitly evaluated as safe, but also productive enough that most workflows do not need additional permissions.

In order to get there, here's what we recommended to the team a few weeks ago:

1. Take the time to try out the tools. The tools do sell themselves — many people have had amazing experiences with 5.2 in Codex, after having churned from codex web a few months ago. But many people are also so busy they haven't had a chance to try Codex yet or got stuck thinking "is there any way it could do X" rather than just trying.
- Designate an "agents captain" for your team — the primary person responsible for thinking about how agents can be brought into the teams' workflow.
- Share experiences or questions in a few designated internal channels
- Take a day for a company-wide Codex hackathon

2. Create skills and AGENTS[.md].
- Create and maintain an AGENTS[.md] for any project you work on; update the AGENTS[.md] whenever the agent does something wrong or struggles with a task.
- Write skills for anything that you get Codex to do, and commit it to the skills directory in a shared repository

3. Inventory and make accessible any internal tools.
- Maintain a list of tools that your team relies on, and make sure someone takes point on making it agent-accessible (such as via a CLI or MCP server).

4. Structure codebases to be agent-first. With the models changing so fast, this is still somewhat untrodden ground, and will require some exploration.
- Write tests which are quick to run, and create high-quality interfaces between components.

5. Say no to slop. Managing AI generated code at scale is an emerging problem, and will require new processes and conventions to keep code quality high
- Ensure that some human is accountable for any code that gets merged. As a code reviewer, maintain at least the same bar as you would for human-written code, and make sure the author understands what they're submitting.

6. Work on basic infra. There's a lot of room for everyone to build basic infrastructure, which can be guided by internal user feedback. The core tools are getting a lot better and more usable, but there's a lot of infrastructure that currently go around the tools, such as observability, tracking not just the committed code but the agent trajectories that led to them, and central management of the tools that agents are able to use.

Overall, adopting tools like Codex is not just a technical but also a deep cultural change, with a lot of downstream implications to figure out. We encourage every manager to drive this with their team, and to think through other action items — for example, per item 5 above, what else can prevent a lot of "functionally-correct but poorly-maintainable code" from creeping into codebases.

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

Guess I won't be building with my current stack on a Vision Pro😂
https://t.co/xa1ti7PR1n

[Sam Basu @samidip]

Sands of MAUI: Issue #74 #DotNetMAUI
https://t.co/skBympOnEF

Newsmakers:
@SweekritiS @JamesMontemagno @jsuarezruiz @jfversluis @VisualStudioMac

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

@dev_avocado A two character reminder that I need to brush up my ES11

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

@uyen_n_quach 👀 team watch party sounds fun 🍿

[.NET @dotnet]

Organize a #dotNETConf watch party for your community or Meetup group and get all the technical content, promotion, and SWAG needed to create your event. Your event can be virtual or in-person depending on your local area health guidelines.

Sign up here: https://t.co/VOYEwuEAJw

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

@tcarpowich @terrenceloftus @uyen_n_quach @alphageeks @HerreraPeyri @acbaldwin Congrats @terrenceloftus ! 🙌

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

@tcarpowich I’d recommend the Sennheiser HD 569. They’ve been the most comfortable headphone I’ve owned. The sit lightly around your ear rather than on it. Sound quality and noise isolation are decent but comfort stands out for me. They are not wireless though, if that’s important.

[.NET @dotnet]

#dotNETConf is happening now. First up, we hear from @CoolCSH, .NET team members, and special guests for a great keynote and kickoff to what promises to be the most educational 3 days of your .NET Dev career. Watch live: https://t.co/i4Ifbulaqz

[mpj 💛 @mpjme]

It's heeeere https://t.co/kLsndTxePT

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

Quaint little bridge on my hike 🙃

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

“Up and running with React Navigation” by Daniel Merrill https://t.co/ke73YGi2XI

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

@mariotomich which of his works do you recommend!?

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

Great take on scope. Definitely made me smile while reading @codeanalogies https://t.co/xHLl0a4MoA

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

@theteecee keep at it dude! 👍

[Eric Elliott @ericelliott_]

Top JavaScript Frameworks & Topics to Learn in 2017: https://t.co/pZ1V7vXhaG

[John Sonmez @simpleprogrammr]

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.
- Epictetus

[Ivan Constantino @const_ivan]

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
-Seneca

[Net Ninja @thenetninjauk]

Hey all, new #Git & #GitHub #tutorial series started - https://t.co/7hjaZvRkzO - first 3 vids up. #python 3 tuts also coming soon 🤓

[Eric Elliott @ericelliott_]

To use a closure, simply define a function inside another function and expose it.
https://t.co/4XR9mWrjme #JavaScript