Building Low-Level Software with Only Coding Agents - Lee Robinson
Lee Robinson built pixo, a Rust-based image compression library, using only AI coding agents over five days. Zero hand-written code.
Stats
- 38,000 lines of code (50%+ tests)
- 520 agent runs, 350M tokens, $2,871
- Performance comparable to mozjpeg
- Zero runtime dependencies
- 900+ tests, 85% code coverage
Key Arguments
Expanding Agent Capabilities: Modern agents can run for hours autonomously. Longest single run: three hours. Dramatic shift from typical 1-30 minute sessions.
Verification Through Testing: Agents perform better with verifiable outputs. CI/CD with tests, lints, benchmarks early enables self-correction.
Notable Quotes
"I did not write any code by hand."
"Writing code is no longer the bottleneck."
"You have to figure out the right things to build."
Main Conclusions
- Product design matters more than coding capacity
- Generalist knowledge remains valuable — understanding domains enables better decisions
- Trade-offs require human judgment
- Developers should experiment immediately rather than over-optimizing workflows