AI coding agent glossary
The vocabulary around AI coding agents changes fast. These are clear, dated definitions of the terms that matter, and how they relate to each other.
- What is an agentic development environment (ADE)?An agentic development environment (ADE) is a workspace built around AI coding agents rather than a human editor. Warp coined the term in June 2025.
- What is the agentic development lifecycle (ADLC)?The agentic development lifecycle (ADLC) keeps the SDLC's phases but hands execution to AI coding agents, with humans setting intent and reviewing outcomes.
- Background agents vs cloud agents: what's the difference?Background agents and cloud agents are substantially the same idea: an AI coding agent that runs asynchronously in an isolated environment and returns a PR.
- What are multiplayer agents?Multiplayer agents are AI agents that multiple people work with in one shared live session. How the term differs from multi-agent systems, with 2026 examples.
- What is the difference between vibe coding and agentic coding?Vibe coding accepts AI-generated code without reading it; agentic coding delegates goals to autonomous agents under real review. Definitions, origins, differences.
- Agent skillsAgent skills are folders of instructions (SKILL.md) that coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode load on demand. Definition, spec, adoption.
- What is a coding harness?A coding harness is the software wrapped around a language model that turns it into a working coding agent: system prompt, tools, context, and loop. Definition, examples, and how it differs from the model.
- Harness of harnessesA harness of harnesses is a development environment that runs multiple AI coding harnesses (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode) side by side under one shared layer. Definition and criteria.
- What is a software factory?In 2026 a software factory is a continuous loop that turns a queue of tracked tasks into merged code by running AI coding agents. Definition, history, examples.
- What is agent orchestration?Agent orchestration is coordinating multiple AI coding agents across isolated environments: assigning work, isolating changes, tracking runs, reviewing output.
- What is an agent fleet?An agent fleet is many AI coding agents run as one operated group: dispatched centrally, isolated per task, visible in one place, and reviewed before merge.
- Session reviewSession review is reviewing an AI coding agent's working session (the brief, corrections, dead ends, and behavior) rather than only the diff it produced. Definition and practice.