AI Agents in 2026: IDE vs CLI/TUI
A practical, hands-on workshop for builders shipping faster with agents.
Interactive
Hands-on
Decision Framework
Today: comparison, live labs, team rollout strategy.
Agenda
- Landscape and tool categories
- Workflow comparison
- Hands-on experiments
- Decision matrix
- Adoption playbook
Tool Landscape
IDE Agents
Context-rich, visual debugging, onboarding-friendly.
CLI/TUI Agents
Automation-first, scriptable, fast loops.
Hybrid
CLI for scaffolding, IDE for deep refinement.
Interactive Workflow Simulator
Best Tool by Task Type
Use IDE for
- UI-heavy refactors
- Complex debug sessions
- Pairing with juniors
Use CLI/TUI for
- Batch edits
- Test generation
- Repo-wide automation
Audience Poll (Interactive)
Which pain hurts most today?
Pick one to see suggested workflow focus.
Prompting Patterns That Work
Context + Goal + Constraints + Acceptance Tests
"Refactor auth middleware.
Keep public API unchanged.
Add tests for token expiry + malformed JWT.
Return patch + rationale."
Hands-on Lab A — Bug Fix Race
Round 1
Fix via IDE agent in 12 min.
Round 2
Fix same bug via CLI/TUI in 12 min.
Hands-on Lab B — Feature Build
- CLI: scaffold tests + endpoint
- IDE: refine business logic + UX
- CLI: lint/test/commit summary
Weighted Decision Scorecard
Adjust priorities and see recommended workflow update live.
Risk, Guardrails, Governance
Policy
Approved prompt templates + tool scopes.
Quality
Mandatory tests + diff review checklist.
Security
Secrets redaction + least-privilege runtimes.
30-Day Rollout Plan
Week 1: standards + baseline metrics
Week 2: pilot squad and retros
Week 3: CI integration + templates
Week 4: org-wide enablement
Measure Impact
Delivery KPIs
- Cycle time
- PR throughput
- Lead time
Quality KPIs
- Defect escape rate
- Rollback rate
- Test coverage delta
Recommended Baseline Stack
Default: Hybrid
- CLI/TUI agent for repeatable engineering tasks
- IDE agent for debug + architectural refactors
- Shared prompt library + checklists
- CI bot for regression gates
Q&A + Next Steps
You now have a framework to choose the right agent interface by task, team, and maturity.
Cloudflare Deploy: Build command
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