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How would you harden AI changes to a 1M-line legacy SaaS before review?

How would you harden AI changes to a 1M-line legacy SaaS before review?

3 pointsby thegreatkahuna6 comments

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  • Hacker News
  • PRD? Product Requirements Document?
    by gabrielsroka
  • At this point what stops you from asking AI this question? But honestly, extensive QA. There are probably more quirks than you could imagine
    by krembo
  • In the past, problems like these were solved with software engineers. Those trained through schooling and experience to be able to read through and understand obscure code conventions and programming quirks.

    Their kind has almost gone extinct in this universe...

    by dnemmers
  • I'd do two things before any code changes:

    1. Ask the AI to document the code base; either in a single repo or in a sidebyside like <file>.md; then scale up with larger documents for functionality/submodules etc. This will get you and your team to properly contemplate the monstrosity.

    2. Once you have documentation, then you write tests; unit tests, e2e, etc. Make sure everything is passing the tests.

    After that, you'll hopefully both gained proper insight and solidified functionality. Then you can port whatever you like.

    by cyanydeez
  • Answering your questions from my knowledge level on AI:

    Managing AI agents is like running a knowledge business. If you are not an expert enough to understand what agents are doing, there is still large room for errors. Its important to set design decisions early in the development process.

    Your questions:

    3. I think this is absurd. Agent can generate the test cases, but you still have to verify the tests are actually valid.

    4. The architecture document should be the source of truth. SO when a engineer reviews they know what to look for & flag/fix. The comprehensive the document is the better. Version it based on what the prototype carries. — Data models, API design, Services, Roles, etc. You can ask this to AI — What all should a high/low level SDD carry?

    5. Just make sure the architecture doc is solid, development is as per the document, ask AI to generate/perform regression test cases and document them as well (pass/fail).

    So the engineer knows where things exactly stand.

    Thats the best can do

    Appreciate thoughts on this.

    by harikshore
  • If you're planning to put it into production anything you do outside of bringing somebody qualified at this point is likely a waste of time. Highly recommend this recent talk by Kelsey Hightower on the subject - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7WFt2JQ5sg
    by taleodor

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