The third era of AI software development

This post describes the transition to a 'third era' of AI software development, characterized by autonomous cloud agents capable of tackling larger tasks independently over longer timescales with less human direction. It highlights the shift in Cursor's focus from direct code writing to building the 'factory' for software creation, where developers interact with fleets of agents as teammates. The post notes that over one-third of internal PRs are now agent-created, with developers focusing on problem decomposition, artifact review, and feedback. It contrasts this with previous eras of tab completion and synchronous agents, emphasizing the benefits of cloud agents running on dedicated VMs for parallel execution and reduced human oversight.