1. Why AI TDD is a Waste of Tokens
Unit tests written by models on rapidly changing code do not provide confidence, making end-to-end tests and visual verification via screenshots and videos a much better approach.
Hear it at 0:00 →Engineering video
0:48 · 19 October 2026
tdd with ai is a waste of tokens
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Transcript
So of course, a lot of people are talking about unit testing and I like do TDD with the AI. I believe TDD, it's a waste of tokens for the most part, especially when you integrate very fast. Because components and code change so fast and the fact that there's a unit test on a new function that the model wrote doesn't give me any confidence. But end to end tests written against our features that run in our real environment, they make me sleep well at night.
We do that and then we also have a visual difference in all the PRs. So our agents are instructed to take screenshots before the feature and then they check out on the fix branch and then they take screenshots and videos of the new feature. And you need that because the reality is you're not going to read keep ages of AI generated text and you're also not going to read the code unless it's something important because you just don't have the time.
So, visual checking is one of the best ways I found to really get confidence.