AI Tools for Developers — What & Why
Developers use AI to write code faster, debug smarter, and review PRs automatically. Here's which tools actually move the needle and what they cost.
Developers use AI to write code faster, debug smarter, and review PRs automatically. Here's which tools actually move the needle and what they cost.
The Core Categories
Developer AI tools fall into three rough buckets, and mixing them up is the main reason people complain that 'AI coding tools don't work.' First: code completion and AI pair programming — Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cody. These live in your editor and suggest the next 1-20 lines as you type. Second: chat-based code help — ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Claude Code. These are for conversation: 'why is this test flaky', 'rewrite this in TypeScript', 'explain this regex.' Third: agentic tools that run multi-step tasks — Claude Code, Devin, Aider. These execute shell commands, edit files, and commit. The productivity lift depends on picking the right bucket for the task. Using Copilot to review a 300-line PR is the wrong tool; using Claude Code to tab-complete a single import is also the wrong tool.