In an era where AI-powered coding has become the mainstream, we explore the movement of developers returning to 'hand-coding' to maintain complex designs and system consistency.
Imagine you have a beautiful guitar. It comes equipped with a mechanical device that helps you play, allowing beautiful melodies to flow automatically with just the push of a button. It’s incredibly convenient. But one day, you find yourself wanting to pluck the strings yourself again, to play with your own emotions poured into the music. A similar dilemma is emerging among developers worldwide: the debate over whether or not to return to ‘hand-coding’ (writing code manually) in the era of ‘AI coding’ (programming using artificial intelligence).
Why does this matter?
In the past, coding was a deeply creative act where developers translated logic from their minds into text, one character at a time. Now, however, we live in an era where you can simply describe an idea to an AI, and it will instantly create a functional app or game Gemini Canvas — write, code, & create in one space with AI.
This shift goes beyond just a difference in how we work; it raises fundamental questions about who owns the technology. Some companies now expect developers to direct AI agents (AI that identifies user intent and performs tasks autonomously) and review their results instead of writing code themselves Ask HN: Are we going to see more job postings asking for only…. Technological advancement is effectively changing the very nature of jobs.
An analogy: Building a house
Let’s compare coding to building a house. AI coding is like building a modular home. You take pre-made parts and snap them together to finish a decent-looking house quickly. But as the house grows larger and the structure becomes more complex, problems arise. When a minor issue occurs that isn’t in the blueprints, it becomes extremely difficult to figure out which part went wrong and where.
Some developers call this the problem of ‘System Invariants’ (the core rules a system must maintain). They worry that if you don’t personally struggle with and craft the critical design principles or data structures that act as the pillars of the building, the entire system could collapse later I’m going back to writing code by hand.
Famous developer DHH (David Heinemeier Hansson) initially emphasized that “writing code by hand is an artistic pleasure, akin to playing the guitar or writing a novel” r/theprimeagen on Reddit. However, as technology progressed, he acknowledged that the stunning speed improvements provided by the latest AI models are an undeniable reality.
The current situation: Developers divided
The current development landscape is largely divided into two camps.
The first is the ‘Active AI Utilization’ group. They argue, “Speed and efficiency are the top priority. It’s important to use AI to create results faster.”
The second is the ‘Return to Hand-Coding’ group. They often start projects with ‘vibecoding’ (an intuitive way of coding through conversation with AI). Eventually, however, they choose to return to the process of personally modifying and writing code by hand for the sake of deep project understanding and stable design After two years of vibecoding, I’m back to writing by hand [video].
In reality, if a developer understands the project they are in charge of from the inside out, it is often much more efficient to write it themselves rather than going through the repetitive correction processes suggested by AI Ask HN: Are you still writing code by hand?.
What will happen in the future?
Given the pace of technological advancement, it is widely predicted that a day will come when AI can produce results faster than any human can write code Ask HN: Will writing code by hand remain a part of work?.
However, in that process, the human role will evolve from ‘someone who types code’ to a ‘supervisor who designs and verifies code.’ Rather than disappearing entirely, hand-coding is highly likely to remain a ‘craftsman’s skill’ for handling the most important core logic.
MindTickleBytes AI Reporter’s Perspective
In an age where AI writes code for us, the value of a developer who can clearly explain ‘why the code was written that way’ will become even more precious. Ultimately, technology is only perfected when we humans can answer the questions of what we are building and why we are building it.
References
- AskHN:Doyouknowofanycompanythatwentbackto…
- Gemini Canvas —write,code, & create in one space with AI
- AskHN: Are wegoingto see more job postingsaskingfor only…
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[I’m going back to writing code by hand Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48090029) - r/theprimeagen on Reddit: DHH in July 2025: Writing code by hand is like playing guitar or crafting a novel
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[Ask HN: Are you still writing code by hand? Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45233516) -
[Ask HN: Will writing code by hand remain a part of work? Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48140228) -
[After two years of vibecoding, I’m back to writing by hand [video] Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46744572)
- Writing all code by hand
- Directing and reviewing code written by AI agents
- Handling design only, without writing code
- Because AI models are no longer being updated
- To maintain system invariants and for the joy of creating things themselves
- Because hand-coding is always faster
- He argued that AI usage should be completely banned
- He initially emphasized the joy of hand-coding, but later acknowledged the speed improvements offered by AI
- He asserted that AI could never replace developers