Stir bugs is an exploration of live algorithmic control in corpus-based performance. A community of computational agents confined to a two-dimensional square prison cell is live-coded into collective madness. Agents are controlled by simple code functions that define navigation in a terrain made of a collection of electronic noise samples. Each agent is also associated with a sound playback/synthesis function. The performance embraces the complexity emerging from quickly coding a multiplicity of behaviours in a shared sonic space.