Best AI coding agents

Agents that take a task, edit multiple files, run commands and come back with a diff.

This featured slot is available to tool makers who fit this use case. Clearly labeled, always separate from our picks.

Our picks

1. Claude Code
Anthropic's terminal-based agentic coding tool.
Verdict: Excellent at multi-file changes from the terminal; a favorite for serious agentic work.
2. Cursor
AI-first code editor (VS Code fork) with chat, inline edits and an agent mode.
Verdict: Agent mode inside a full editor, so you can review every change visually.
3. OpenAI Codex
OpenAI's coding agent that works on repos in the cloud or CLI.
Verdict: Hand off tasks to run in parallel in the cloud and review the resulting PRs.
4. GitHub Copilot
AI pair programmer built into VS Code, JetBrains and GitHub.
Verdict: Copilot's coding agent works from GitHub issues — natural fit if your team lives on GitHub.
5. Devin
Cognition's autonomous software engineering agent.
Verdict: Built for delegating whole tickets end to end; pricier, aimed at teams.
6. Aider
Open-source AI pair programming in your terminal, git-aware.
Verdict: Free, open-source, bring-your-own-model; makes clean git commits for each change.

Picks are editorial and not paid. Pricing and features change often — check each official site.