Percentage of Code Written

The Percentage of Code Written (PCW) metric, developed by Windsurf, serves as a directional proxy for evaluating the productivity and value derived from their AI-powered coding tools. PCW calculates the proportion of code attributed to AI-generated suggestions in comparison to manually written code, aiming to provide a more trustworthy metric than traditional measures like acceptance rates, which can be manipulated. Although PCW is not an absolute measure of developer productivity, it offers insights into AI's contribution to code generation over time, reflecting genuine improvements in product performance or user familiarity. The metric is particularly high for agentic platforms, such as the Windsurf Editor and JetBrains Plugin, highlighting the effectiveness of these systems. Despite its strengths, PCW has limitations, including its inability to capture the entire software development process or changes made to AI-generated code post-commit, and it may overemphasize boilerplate code generation. Windsurf acknowledges these caveats and recommends using PCW alongside other qualitative signals and feedback to fully understand its value within an organization. The company is committed to refining PCW and other metrics to enhance the insights available to its users.