Effective AI code suggestions: less is more

In the development of Qodo Merge, an AI tool for automated pull request analysis, the team discovered that prioritizing different types of suggestions led to an overwhelming number of low-importance suggestions, particularly related to style, which overshadowed critical issues. Initially, the tool was designed to prioritize bugs and problems while still considering style and best practices, but this approach resulted in suggestion fatigue among developers. The breakthrough came when the team simplified the model's task to focus exclusively on identifying meaningful bugs and problems, which significantly improved the acceptance rate of suggestions and their impact. This shift from handling multiple priorities to concentrating solely on critical issues eliminated distractions and enhanced the tool's effectiveness. As a parallel solution, Qodo Merge allows teams to define and evaluate their own coding standards separately, providing a dual approach that results in greater trust and adoption of the tool's suggestions. This experience highlights the effectiveness of scope constraint, suggesting that a focused approach often yields better results than attempting to address all potential improvements simultaneously.