The Agentic Artisan

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a developer right now. Not in a philosophical, stare-out-the-window kind of way but in a very practical "what should I actually be doing differently?" kind of way.

Because things are changing. Fast.

The Artisan Is Changing

We've always been artisans. That's the whole Laravel philosophy. Crafting beautiful applications with care and intention. Writing clean and simple code that scales. Choosing elegant solutions over quick hacks. Taking pride in the result.

That hasn't changed. But how we craft is changing dramatically.

Half a year ago, my workflow was: think about the problem, write the code, review it, test it, ship it. There was maybe a bit of AI involved, but mostly through auto-completions in my IDE. Now? I think about the problem, describe what I want, review what the AI wrote, adjust it, test it, ship it.

The thinking is still mine. The shipping is still mine. (mostly haha) But a huge chunk of the middle part? That's different now.

New Tools, Same Question

There are so many AI tools out there right now. Claude Code, Cursor, Polyscope, Windsurf, OpenClaw, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head. New ones pop up every week.

The question isn't whether to use them. That ship has sailed. The question is: which ones, and how?

Here's how I think about it: it's all about shortcuts.

But not all shortcuts are the right ones.

The Right Shortcuts

Some shortcuts make you faster without losing anything. Using AI to scaffold a migration, generate boilerplate, write test setups, draft documentation. That's just being smart. You're not skipping anything important. You're cutting out the mechanical parts so you can focus on the decisions that actually matter.

These are the shortcuts you should take. Every single time. They make you more productive while keeping quality and your human touch intact.

Then there are the wrong shortcuts. The ones that strip away the parts that make your work valuable in the first place.

Letting AI write an entire feature without reviewing the code? Wrong shortcut. Having AI generate your conference talk without adding your own perspective? Wrong shortcut. Auto-generating video content without your face and voice? Wrong shortcut.

I've tried all of the wrong shortcuts and to be honest, they are fun too. Don't get me wrong. The automated Laravel release summary videos that I can publish automatically, minutes after a release happened? It is pretty mind-blowing how far I can take this. But do we need AI-generated videos with my fake voice? I don't think so. This takes all my human touch away.

The important parts stay important. Code review. The human touch. Your face in the video. Your voice in the podcast. Your opinion in the article. Your little human inperefection. That's what people connect with. That's what makes your work yours.

Don't outsource the soul.

It Feels Like Superpowers

Right now, using these AI tools feels like having superpowers. I can build things in hours that used to take days. I can explore ideas without committing entire weekends to them. I can create videos, write scripts, check my calendar, and manage projects, all through text or even conversations with my assistant.

But here's the thing: this superpower feeling? It's temporary.

Not because the tools will get worse. They'll get better. But because everyone will have them. Right now, knowing how to use Claude Code or OpenClaw effectively gives you a real edge. Soon, it'll be the default. Like knowing how to use Google was an edge in 2004 and completely unremarkable by 2010.

So What Actually Matters?

This is where it gets interesting. If AI can write code faster than you, and everyone has access to the same AI tools, what makes you valuable?

The same things that always made you valuable:

• Your ideas
• Your taste
• Your strategy
• Your domain knowledge
• Your ability to decide what to build and why

It's almost like we're going full circle. Before AI, you needed great ideas and the ability to execute them. Then AI came along, and suddenly execution got way easier. So now? It's back to the ideas. Back to you.

My colleague Josh Cirre put it really well in a recent article:

When AI can do almost anything, direction becomes the scarce resource.

The difference is that you might write less code yourself. Or maybe no code at all for some projects. But you still need to know what good code looks like. You still need to understand the architecture and consequences of bad decisions. You still need that background, maybe even more than before, because you're reviewing AI code now, and you can't review what you don't understand.

The Background Still Matters

Some people hear "AI writes code" and think: great, I don't need to learn programming then. I think that's wrong.

Knowing how things work under the hood makes you better at working with AI. You ask better questions. You spot bad suggestions faster. You know when the AI is wrong.

But the kind of background that matters is shifting. Maybe it's becoming broader and more general. You don't need to memorize syntax anymore, AI handles that. But you need to understand patterns, architecture, trade-offs, and the why behind decisions.

And honestly? Which programming language you use is becoming less important too. The AI probably knows what's best for a given problem anyway. What matters is understanding the problem.

What About Writing Clean Code?

This is the question I hear from Laravel developers a lot: if we care about writing simple, clean, maintainable code, does that still matter when AI writes most of it?

Yes. Actually, more than ever.

Because AI is really good at following guidelines. Give it conventions, give it opinions, give it a framework with clear patterns, and it'll produce cleaner code than most of us.

This is where Laravel has a genuine advantage. Think about it: Laravel has strong opinions. Clear conventions. A massive ecosystem with well-documented patterns. Years of best practices baked into the framework and the community.

For AI, this is paradise. Clear rules mean clear output.

Laravel Boost takes this even further. It gives AI access to the latest docs, templates, and best practices for every new project. The AI doesn't just know Laravel, it knows current Laravel.

And look at what the Laravel homepage says now: "The clean stack for Artisans and agents."

That's not marketing fluff. That's a real insight. Laravel's opinionated nature, the thing some people used to criticize turns out to be its biggest strength in the AI era. When you have clear guidelines, both humans and AI produce better code.

The Agentic Artisan

So what does the modern artisan look like?

You still care about craft. You still care about clean code and elegant solutions. You still bring your unique perspective and taste to everything you build.

But now you have agents working alongside you. AI that understands your framework, your conventions, your preferences. You direct, you review, you decide, and your agents execute.

It's not about being replaced. It's about being amplified.

The developers who'll thrive aren't the ones who can type the fastest or memorize the most syntax. They're the ones with the best ideas, the clearest thinking, and the taste to know what's good, whether they wrote it or their AI did.

New Skills For A New Era

Here's what I think artisans need to focus on now:

Get really good at describing what you want. Prompting isn't just a buzzword. The ability to clearly articulate a problem, provide the right context, and guide AI toward the right solution. That's a real skill. And it's not as easy as people think. AI models see your code the first time and need to provide value immediately. You can help them by providing context and examples. Treat them as really smart co-workers that you just met.

Learn to review fast and well. You'll spend more time reviewing code than writing it. Train that muscle. It will take time.

Develop taste. Know what good looks like. Know when something feels off, even if you can't immediately explain why. That intuition is uniquely human.

Stay curious. The tools are changing every month. You don't need to try everything, but you need to stay aware. Pick the right tools for you and go deep. Keep exploring.

Keep the human parts human. Your face. Your voice. Your opinions. Your mistakes too, the little ones at least. People don't follow you for AI-generated perfection. They follow you for you.

Embrace The Change

Times are changing. Developers are changing. The tools we use are changing. But the core of what makes a great artisan? That stays the same.

Build things that matter. Care about the craft. Care about the people, your users. Keep learning. And now, work with your agents to do it all faster and better than ever before.

The future is agentic. And it's going to be great for artisans.