The rise of the citizen developer

The rise of citizen development parallels the democratization seen in design with tools like Figma, as pre-configured, browser-based environments with integrated AI agents are lowering the barriers to software development for non-engineers. Ona, a platform built on environments, agents, and guardrails, exemplifies this trend by enabling domain experts across various industries to contribute to codebases without extensive technical knowledge. These standardized environments facilitate a seamless workspace setup, ensuring compliance and reproducibility while AI agents help users adhere to organizational coding standards and processes. This approach allows companies to embrace citizen development securely and efficiently, transforming how solutions are developed and deployed across sectors like pharmaceuticals, insurance, and finance.