# Small Steps, Plans and Review Checkpoints — Coding Agents & AI-Assisted Development

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/coding-agents/w-small

> Keep each change reviewable and decide where a human looks.

## Plan, approve, implement, review

A reliable rhythm is **explore → plan → implement → verify → review**. First let the agent read and *propose a plan* without editing; correct the plan, which is cheap, before it writes code, which is expensive to undo. Then implement in **small commits**, each with passing tests. Add **human checkpoints** where the cost of a mistake is high: approve the plan; approve any new dependency, schema change or security-sensitive edit; review the final diff. Aim for **pull requests a person can review in minutes** (tens of changed lines, one purpose); a 2,000-line agent diff is effectively unreviewed code. If a diff is too large, ask the agent to split it into logical commits or separate PRs. Treat the agent like a fast junior colleague: strong output, but nothing merges without review.

## Where humans look

Checkpoints are placed where mistakes are costly or hard to undo.

```text
Stage                 Agent does                          Human does
explore               reads, searches, summarises         (optional) answers questions
plan                  proposes steps, files, tests        APPROVES or corrects the plan
implement             small edits, runs tests, commits    watches diffs; approves risky actions
verify                full tests, lint, type checks       checks the results are real, not claimed
review                writes summary + PR                 REVIEWS the diff; merges or requests changes
```

## Ask for a summary of what changed and why

A short explanation next to the diff speeds review, but verify it against the diff.

**Quiz:** Why ask the agent for a plan before it edits?

- [x] Correcting a plan is cheap; undoing wrong code is expensive
- [ ] Plans make the model slower for no reason
- [ ] Plans replace tests
- [ ] Plans are required by git

*Answer:* Correcting a plan is cheap; undoing wrong code is expensive. Catch misunderstandings before they turn into large diffs.