Dries Buytaert's regarding AX (Agent Experience):
In the era of AI coding agents, software adoption depends on how easily these agents can "consume" your project. AI agents prioritize the cheapest path to completion; if your software is difficult to use, they will simply reject it without notice.
To ensure your project is chosen, you must reduce three specific costs:
- Friction: The effort required to get the system running (installation, setup, environment configuration, and access/credentials).
- Abstraction: The effort required to understand what to do next (providing clear recipes, templates, scaffolds, and logical defaults).
- Verification: The effort required to confirm the work was successful (reliable tests, clear error messages, and inspectable system states).
What helps AI agents (AX) also helps human developers (DX). By making your project easy for an agent to install, modify, and verify, you make it better for everyone.