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What Are AI Agents? Complete Guide to AI Coding Assistants

8 min read

AI agents are autonomous software systems that can perceive their environment, make decisions, and take actions to achieve specific goals. In software development, AI coding assistants like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex have revolutionized how developers write, debug, and maintain code.

What is an AI Agent?

An AI agent is a software program that uses artificial intelligence to autonomously perform tasks on behalf of users. Unlike traditional software that follows rigid instructions, AI agents can:

  • Understand context - Interpret natural language requests and code context
  • Make decisions - Choose appropriate actions based on goals
  • Learn and adapt - Improve performance through experience
  • Take autonomous action - Execute multi-step workflows without constant guidance

In the context of software development, AI coding agents assist developers by generating code, fixing bugs, refactoring, writing tests, and explaining complex codebases.

How AI Coding Agents Work

Modern AI coding agents are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) that have been trained on vast amounts of code and documentation. Here's how they function:

  1. Context gathering - The agent reads your codebase, open files, and conversation history
  2. Intent understanding - Natural language processing interprets your request
  3. Plan generation - The agent creates a step-by-step plan to accomplish the task
  4. Code generation - Using its training, the agent writes or modifies code
  5. Verification - Many agents can run tests or checks to verify their work

Types of AI Coding Agents

The AI coding assistant landscape includes several categories:

CLI-Based Agents

  • Claude Code - Anthropic's terminal-based coding assistant
  • OpenCode - Open-source CLI alternative
  • Aider - Git-aware AI pair programming

IDE-Integrated Agents

  • Cursor - AI-first code editor built on VS Code
  • GitHub Copilot - Microsoft/GitHub's code completion tool
  • Windsurf - Codeium's AI-powered IDE

Specialized Agents

  • Codex - OpenAI's code-focused model
  • Gemini Code Assist - Google's coding assistant
  • Plandex - Complex multi-file task specialist

Benefits for Developers

AI coding agents provide significant advantages:

Increased Productivity

Studies show 30-50% faster code completion with AI assistance

Reduced Cognitive Load

Offload boilerplate and repetitive tasks to focus on architecture

Learning Acceleration

Get explanations and examples while working in unfamiliar codebases

Code Quality

AI agents can suggest best practices and catch potential issues

AI Agent Skills

AI agent skills are modular capabilities that extend what coding assistants can do. Skills are reusable packages that add specialized functionality like:

  • Automated code review and security analysis
  • Documentation generation
  • Test writing and coverage analysis
  • Database query optimization
  • API integration patterns
  • Domain-specific workflows (legal, finance, healthcare)

Browse 44,000+ AI agent skills on SkillzWave

Getting Started with AI Agents

Ready to start using AI coding assistants? Here's how:

  1. Choose an agent - Start with Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot
  2. Install the skilz CLI - pip install skilz
  3. Browse skills - Find capabilities at skillzwave.ai/browse
  4. Install skills - skilz install [skill-name]

Quick Start Commands

pip install skilz
skilz search "code review"
skilz install code-reviewer
skilz list

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