# When to use an AI Coding Agent

A few weeks ago, I set up an automation in Codex to send me a weekly report on how efficiently I use AI for APEX development. The report is consistently telling me that I am using AI too much for small investigations and bug fixes, and that I should be using it more for new development and major refactors.

> On this I have to disagree.

Even a small APEX bug involves the following:

1.  Read and understand the ticket
    
2.  Reproduce the issue
    
3.  Isolate the code causing the issue
    
4.  Plan a fix
    
5.  Implement the fix
    
6.  Regression test
    
7.  Create a code pack
    
8.  Deploy the fix to DEV, TEST, and PROD
    
9.  Keep the user informed of progress
    

> That can easily be forty-five minutes to an hour of work.

I can get Codex to do most of steps 1-6 for me and then review the diff and test results to confirm that Codex made good choices. This reduces steps 1-6 to about five to ten minutes. **More importantly**, Codex is going to do a better job than me of reviewing the entire codebase and finding dependencies I might miss when investigating a small ticket.

> Small fixes are a big part of real APEX development, and saving time on them adds up. My experience still matters: I need to guide the agent, question its choices, and judge the result. With that oversight, even a small ticket can be a good use of an AI coding agent.