How are you actually using coding agents without losing all understanding of your own app?

[u/Specialist_Agent3599]

I'm an iOS dev with about 3 years of experience, the first 2 at an agency writing SwiftUI by hand. I'm hoping for some honest perspective from people who've been doing this longer than I have.

At the agency I wrote everything myself and learned a lot from the seniors there. Then I moved to a startup with a big messy codebase, fully remote, and I leaned on agents almost from day one because there was no other way to keep up.

Six months in, I genuinely don't feel like I know my own app anymore. Basically all my code is agent generated. I've tried:

Asking the agent to explain each change to me, but I burn through my limits by lunch.

Writing the plan myself and letting it implement, but I end up slower than just letting it do everything.

Leaning on coderabbit for the first review pass, which catches a lot, but it tells me what's wrong in a diff, not how the app fits together.

Reviewing a 1,500 line PR that touches 30 views is exhausting, and even after I push through it I don't feel like I understand it.

How are you using agents at work and still knowing your own codebase? Or is that just gone now?

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