AI-Ready Codebases: Engineering Discipline for Agentic AI with Adam Tornhill
About this episode
Adam Tornhill discusses the impact of agentic AI on software engineering and shares strategies for ensuring codebases are AI-ready.
In this episode, Andi and Brian welcome back Adam Tornhill—founder of CodeScene and author of Your Code as a Crime Scene —to explore how agentic AI is reshaping software engineering. Adam shares his personal journey from 40 years of hands-on coding to orchestrating AI-generated code, and what this shift really means for development teams. Together, they dive into new research on the hidden risks of AI-assisted coding, why low-quality or legacy code slows AI down, and how to measure the “AI-readiness” of a codebase. Adam breaks down practical strategies from his latest work on Agentic AI Coding , including guardrails, refactoring patterns, enforced processes, and why test coverage has become a surprising cornerstone for safe, fast AI iteration. Whether you're experimenting with AI coding tools or planning enterprise-scale adoption, this episode delivers actionable guidance rooted in data, engineering discipline, and real-world experience. Links https://codescene.com/blog/agentic-ai-coding-best-practice-patterns-for-speed-with-quality https://codescene.com/blog/strengthening-the-inner-developer-loop-turn-ai-into-a-reliable-engineering-partner
People in this episode
Hosts: Andi, Brian
Guest: Adam Tornhill
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: CodeScene
Books & works: Your Code as a Crime Scene, Agentic AI Coding
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