My Journey to Agent-First Development With Air | The Air Blog

Valerii Tepliakov shares his journey of transitioning to an agent-first development approach using Air, a JetBrains’ agentic development environment. Initially hesitant to use AI tools for coding in work environments due to concerns over code quality and cumbersome interfaces, Tepliakov found Air's seamless integration into familiar workflows refreshing. Unlike previous experiences with AI tools like Claude Code, Air allowed him to switch easily between tasks, leveraging agents for small-scope tasks without the need to learn new interaction patterns. This shift enabled him to maintain productivity while delegating routine coding tasks to AI agents, reserving more complex tasks for traditional tools like IntelliJ IDEA. His experience culminated in successfully using Air to implement a Gemini CLI, demonstrating the efficiency of working within a single, integrated environment. Tepliakov anticipates further enhancements, such as mobile compatibility, to fully realize the potential of AI-driven development.