At the start of 2026 I decided I wanted to build my own Coding Agent. The goal was to build the tool that would let me do the work of a Software Engineer, but without reading the code. It's a Python codebase that I've never read, and I never intend to read. By building it I've learned some things about doing serious engineering, without reading code.
With AI we're writing more code than ever, and more and more non-Engineers are involved in building with code. It is increasingly unsustainable for a human to read and review every line of code. Even if we do human review, the volume is so large and the context is totally gone - we can't expect them to do a good job. So how can we feel safe? What techniques do we need to apply? What technologies do we build? How do we Engineer in a world where we no longer read code?
In this talk I’ll go through our journey of building small low-risk software without human review. I’ll talk about my experiments in building software without review, and the systems I’m building. I’ll also talk about the systems I’m using in production to drive high quality code and anti-fragility through AI review. Then how I’m thinking about the future of work in Software Engineering, and whether human review will be a part of that.
Ben runs Product Engineering at Stile Education and is the creator of Runno, an open-source browser-based runtime for programming languages and WebAssembly binaries. With over a decade of experience in front-end and mobile development, he’s passionate about making technology more accessible and has a particular focus on Educational Technology.
When he’s not building software that bridges the gap between complex systems and human needs, Ben can be found rock climbing, making games, DJing, or volunteer teaching. His approach to development centers on design, usability, and interfaces that serve people—whether that’s students learning to code, developers building applications, or AI systems trying to execute user requests safely.
