Google DeepMind Agentic Coding Tips

December 2025

Language & Ecosystem

• Simple languages win (Go, PHP, basic Python)
• Low ecosystem churn - agents need stable foundations
• Long function names > namespaces
• Don’t make agents depend on LSP

Tooling

• Fast, user-friendly tools - speed matters for iteration
• Centralize logging and observability
• Protect tools against misuse
• Skip MCP - bespoke CLI tools outperform

Context Conservation

• Give it tools to navigate the codebase
• Tail the last 20 lines of combined logs
• CLAUDE.md that’s too long is noise, not help
• Use subagents to preserve context
• When you need /compact, you already lost

Forward Progress

• Broken dev environment = backtracking (kills agents)
• Noisy tool output rots context
• Backtracking even when corrected rots worse

Practical

• Forward everything into one log file
• Document how multiple processes work together
• Give agents sync points and health checks
• Let it access GitHub CLI for CI debugging

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The shift from writing code to designing for agents is real.