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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Agentic Code Surgery for Brownfield Systems

Authors: Ganesan, Vivek; Sekar, Kamal Raj; Kashyap, Kiran;

Agentic Code Surgery for Brownfield Systems

Abstract

AI coding assistants are more helpful in greenfield development than for modifying brownfield code — large, undertested, poorly-maintained systems that make up the majority of professional programming. Left to their defaults, these assistants read a few files, guess at intent, and edit first, verify later: precisely the failure mode Michael Feathers warned against in Working Effectively with Legacy Code [1]. We propose a seven-agent workflow — Plan, Map, Break, Cover, Implement, Refactor, Finish — that forces an AI assistant to follow Feathers' discipline: characterize existing behavior with tests before touching code. Each agent has a narrow scope, an explicit exit contract, and a file-based handoff to the next, with human review at every boundary. Applied to a real brownfield codebase, this workflow produced 43 new passing tests (raising statement coverage from 0.85% to 16.78%) against zero new tests and 0.82% coverage for a regular (plan and implement) approach, and avoided all critical and major bugs the regular approach introduced.

Keywords

Artificial intelligence, Software development

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green