Review Criteria for Code Created by Coding Agents: Priorities by Change Type
What you’ll learn
- Why code created by coding agents should be grouped into external connections, data changes, calculations, and display work
- The verification priority for each change type and the risks people should inspect first
- A review sequence for checking the diff, execution result, and scope of impact
Review Code Created by Coding Agents Based on Impact and Reversibility
A coding agent is AI that creates or changes code according to instructions. Review its code at a depth that reflects whether the change affects anything outside the system and how difficult it would be to undo after execution.
While checking changes on this site, I found that reviewing everything at the same depth obscured higher-priority items such as external connections and data updates. I grouped changes into external connections, data changes, calculations and transformations, and display and design work to decide what to check first and how. The criteria below come from that experience.
Increase Review Depth with the Impact of a Code Change
As the volume of code grows, reviewing everything in the same way becomes difficult. Choose a method suited to the change: inspect the code for credentials and data updates, supply values to test calculations, and view the page to check its display.
These priorities are based on my work. They need to be adjusted for the project and the problems a change could cause.
Code Types and Verification Priority
Priority: High — External Service Connection Configuration
Review code containing API keys—strings used to identify a caller when accessing an external service—credentials, or connection destinations before execution.
I check where API keys are stored and how authentication verifies the user. In one case, an API key written directly into a configuration file was included in Git, a tool that records file changes. Looking only at the code’s structure does not verify how this information is handled.
Because this category affects external services and problems can take time to resolve, I check it first.
Priority: High — Logic That Modifies or Deletes Data
Review code that updates databases, overwrites files, or removes records before running it.
Check whether a process intended for one user could apply to everyone, and whether there is a confirmation step before deletion. When an operation is difficult to reverse, prioritize the conditions that determine its targets.
Priority: Medium — Calculation and Transformation Logic
Verify calculations, data format conversions, and aggregation by supplying sample values and checking the results.
Alongside ordinary values, check values such as zero, empty input, and a maximum, where the handling of a case may change. These are boundary values. Since testing every combination is difficult, choose a few representative cases and exceptions.
Priority: Low — Display and Design Code
For layout, styles, and other visual code, open the page and check whether it appears as intended. For this type of change, viewing the result is my basic verification method rather than reading every detail of the code.
Use an Appropriate Verification Method for Each Change to Code Created by Coding Agents
Compare the code before and after the change—the diff—to identify the types of work involved. Then choose a verification method for each.
- External connections: check where API keys and credentials are stored and what is exposed publicly.
- Data changes: read the conditions that select the targets and confirm they stay within the intended scope.
- Calculations and transformations: supply representative and exceptional values, then check the execution results.
- Display and design: open the page in a browser and check the rendered result.
After these checks, review whether the change also affects other locations. Combine the priority classification with verification of the actual scope of impact.
Summary: Increase Review Depth with External Impact and Difficulty of Reversal
Prioritize review time for changes that affect external services or are difficult to undo. In my work, classifying a change before choosing whether to read the code, test it with values, or view the page made that decision clearer.
These priorities cannot be applied unchanged to areas such as healthcare, finance, or safety controls. Where even a display change can have serious consequences, verification must reflect that impact.