AI Coding Trace Dissections

Anatomy of an AI Coding Agent trace that shows why tools and vibes alone are not enough

The video and document walks through an annotated trace of an AI coding agent implementing a simple feature. We can see tool calls to fetch docs, and playwright calls to test the app. However, this is not enough to overcome vague instructions.

The result was a feature that was worked, but was not what I had intended and was not going to be a good or helpful user experience. Let’s look at what went well and what went wrong.