https://devopstoolkit.live/ai/the-4-modes-of-ai-coding-and-why-your-tool-picks-itself/index.htmlWorking with AI agents is management. Most people think the IDE versus TUI debate is about tools. It is not. It is about management style. And like any good manager, you adjust based on two things. How well can you specify the task? And how much does the situation warrant trust? The worse you are at specifying and the less trust is warranted, the more you need to intervene. I think of it as four modes of working with AI agents. Four management styles. Mode 1: “I trust you only to complete what I started.” Mode 2: “I need to review every single thing you do.” Mode 3: “I observe what you are doing and intervene when needed.” Mode 4: “I trust you with this task.” These are not ranked from worst to best. They are different styles for different situations. Both IDEs and TUIs can operate in all four modes. But each has modes where it is native and modes where it is fighting its own architecture. And that gap widens as autonomy increases. I used to be IDE-only. Then I combined IDE and TUI. Now I use TUI exclusively. That was not a tribal choice. It followed my shift through these four modes. As my center of gravity moved toward higher autonomy, the IDE stopped being the right tool for most of what I do. So let me walk you through each mode, how IDE and TUI handle it differently, and where each paradigm hits its structural limits.Hugoen-us