At 37signals, writing code by hand is no longer the normal way the company says it builds software: David Heinemeier Hansson says agents now do that work, with manual coding reserved for exceptional cases. That is a significant report about one company’s workflow—not proof that hand coding is over across the software industry.
What did DHH say at Rails World?
At his Rails World keynote, David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), creator of Ruby on Rails and co-founder of 37signals, described a deliberate change in how the company produces code. “We have gone pencils down on the idea that we were gonna write code by hand, as a normal course of business,” he said, as quoted by The Pragmatic Engineer. He characterized hand-written code as an exceptional state: a reason to ask why an agent could not produce the result the team needed.
The statement describes Hansson’s account of 37signals’ practice. It is not an independently audited description of every team’s workflow, nor does it establish that all professional programmers should stop coding manually.
What is changing at 37signals—and what is not?
The reported shift concerns how the company expects code to be produced, alongside technology choices Hansson connects to working with agents.
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- Agents as the default producer: Agent-led code production is described as the normal course of business; people still set goals and judge whether the result is acceptable.
- Native mobile development: The company is reported to be building native iOS and Android apps, a change the article links to agents making native development more practical for a small team.
- Some backend work in Rust: The report says backend services are moving to Rust for performance reasons and because agents can write what Hansson considers “good enough” Rust. This is the company’s reported reasoning, not a published benchmark comparing implementations.
- Rails remains in use: 37signals continues to use Ruby on Rails for web applications. The report says its convention-over-configuration approach is considered easy for agents to work with; it does not say the company has abandoned Rails.
The account appears in The Pragmatic Engineer’s report, originally published and updated on 1 October 2026. The question was also framed in a 24 September 2026 newsletter preview as whether hand coding was over for professional work “at 37signals at least.”
Why does Hansson call it a turning point?
Hansson named 24 November 2025 as his “Kodak Brownie” moment and identified Opus 4.5 as the trigger for his personal tipping point. He described it as the moment when AI became accessible in a harness that let people experience creating software with a new form of intelligence. That date records his interpretation of his own experience; it is not a measured industry-wide inflection point.
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He also said he had “retired from being a professional programmer,” estimating that this happened “4 to 5 months ago, maybe March.” These remarks convey how he sees his own role changing. They do not show that programming work—or the need for engineering expertise—has disappeared.
Does this prove hand coding is economically obsolete?
No. Hansson made the broad claim that hand coding is “no longer an economically productive enterprise for the vast majority of programmers working at the vast majority of companies.” But the reporting offers no representative productivity study establishing that conclusion across companies or the profession. His statement is an argument about where he believes the economics are heading, not a measured industry finding.
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The evidence presented is narrower: a company’s reported workflow, Hansson’s views, and examples discussed by the article’s author. Those examples include an anonymous engineer’s post and bugs the author says he observed in an Uber Eats interface. They are anecdotes, not a measure of how common defects are or proof that AI caused each one.
What changes for engineers if agents write more code?
Less direct typing does not eliminate engineering responsibility. People still need to understand what a system should do, evaluate what an agent produces, test behavior, and remain accountable for software that ships. The article argues that engineers’ work increasingly includes understanding model limitations and designing validation systems, rather than simply accepting generated code.
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Hansson’s argument also raises a question about abstractions: if repeating code becomes cheaper, some trade-offs around reuse may change. But cheaper generation does not by itself establish that a particular abstraction is unnecessary, or that generated code is correct, secure, maintainable, or economical to operate. Those judgments still depend on the software and the controls around it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read the “death of hand coding” claim
| Question | What the report supports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Is hand coding over at 37signals? | Hansson says agent production is the default and manual coding is exceptional. | An independent audit of every team or project at the company. |
| Has 37signals stopped using Rails? | No. The report says Rails remains in use for web applications. | That Rails has been replaced across the company. |
| Are agents making all developers more productive? | Hansson believes the economics have shifted, and the article describes his company’s choices. | Representative data proving a productivity gain or economic obsolescence across the profession. |
| Can teams ship agent-written code without review? | The article emphasizes continued responsibility for judgment and validation. | That generated code is reliable without testing, review, and operational ownership. |
The most defensible takeaway is therefore specific: a prominent software company says it has made agents its ordinary way of producing code, while retaining human responsibility and continuing to use Rails for web applications. Whether that approach makes sense elsewhere depends on the work, the team’s ability to verify outputs, and the costs of operating what gets shipped.
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