Set Up Your Guardrails
Guardrails are automated checks that catch mistakes before they ship. Your agent will generate code that looks right but isn’t. Guardrails catch the difference.
The Essentials
A linter. ESLint, Biome, Ruff, Clippy — whatever fits your language. A linter catches syntax issues, unused variables, and common mistakes instantly. Configure it once, run it always.
A formatter. Prettier, Black, gofmt — automated formatting means you never argue about style, and your agent’s code looks like yours. Run it on save or as a pre-commit hook.
Type checking. TypeScript, mypy, Flow — if your language supports it, use it. Types catch an entire class of bugs that your agent will absolutely produce. An agent that generates any everywhere is an agent without guardrails.
Pre-commit hooks. Use a tool like Husky, lefthook, or pre-commit to run your linter, formatter, and type checker before every commit. This means garbage literally cannot enter your repository.
I used to skip the linter because “I know what I’m doing.” I did not know what I was doing. I shipped a function that referenced a variable from a different file that didn’t exist. TypeScript would have caught it in 0.2 seconds.
Why This Matters for AI-Generated Code
Agents are confident. They generate code that reads well, compiles often, and fails at the edges. A linter catches the dead code they leave behind. A type checker catches the impossible function signatures. A formatter ensures consistency when the agent’s style drifts from yours.
Without guardrails, you’re relying on your own eyes to catch every mistake. Your eyes are tired. The linter is not.
Set up linting, formatting, and type checking before you start generating code. Run them automatically via pre-commit hooks. Never trust generated code more than your tools trust it.