arXiv:2611.16293 · v1

Rasoi: Visual Diffs for Evaluating Structural Changes Made by Coding Agents

首次提交 2026-11-12 12:47

版本更新 2026-11-12 12:47

雷达观测 2026-11-13 14:16

摘要

Coding agents let developers modify software rapidly through natural language. However, as agents take on larger changes, developers can lose track of how the codebase is evolving. These edits may look correct on the surface while restructuring the system in unexpected ways: duplicating logic, changing modules outside the requested scope, removing functionality developers meant to keep, or introducing architectural drift. We investigate how visual diffs can help developers understand and evaluate the structural changes that coding agents make. We present Rasoi, a design probe that maps how a codebase's architecture evolves after each agent-made edit, letting developers inspect which architectural elements and relationships were added, modified, or removed across multiple levels of abstraction. We deployed Rasoi in a week-long study with 12 developers working on their own codebases across varied technical domains. We found that visual diffs helped developers see whether changes stayed within scope, notice unexpected restructuring, and understand how modified parts related to the system as a whole. Our findings suggest that the value of oversight tools for coding agents lies less in making developers trust the agent and more in helping developers feel confident in their own evaluation of agent-made changes. We discuss implications for visual tools that support code comprehension and human oversight in AI-assisted software development.