René's URL Explorer Experiment

{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "AI Coding Agents Guide: A Map of the Four Workflow Types",
  "image": {
    "@type": "ImageObject",
    "url": "https://files.realpython.com/media/A-Practical-Map-of-Types-of-AI-Coding-Agents_Watermarked.7955cfd5f864.jpg",
    "width": 1920,
    "height": 1080
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://realpython.com/ai-coding-agents-guide/",
    "lastReviewed": "2026-10-11",
    "author": {
      "@type": "Person",
      "name": "Ben Batman",
      "image": "https://realpython.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1920,height=1920,fit=crop,gravity=auto,format=auto/https://files.realpython.com/media/real-python-logo-square.28474fda9228.png",
      "url": "https://realpython.com/team/bbatman/",
      "affiliation": {
        "@type": "Organization",
        "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
        "name": "Real Python",
        "url": "https://realpython.com",
        "logo": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png"
      }
    },
    "reviewedBy": [
      {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "Aldren Santos",
        "image": "https://realpython.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=500,height=500,fit=crop,gravity=auto,format=auto/https://files.realpython.com/media/Aldren_Santos_Real_Python.6b0861d8b841.png",
        "url": "https://realpython.com/team/asantos/",
        "affiliation": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
          "name": "Real Python",
          "url": "https://realpython.com",
          "logo": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "Brenda Weleschuk",
        "image": "https://realpython.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=320,height=320,fit=crop,gravity=auto,format=auto/https://files.realpython.com/media/IMG_3324_1.50b309355fc1.jpg",
        "url": "https://realpython.com/team/bweleschuk/",
        "affiliation": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
          "name": "Real Python",
          "url": "https://realpython.com",
          "logo": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "Bartosz Zaczy\u0144ski",
        "image": "https://realpython.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1694,height=1694,fit=crop,gravity=auto,format=auto/https://files.realpython.com/media/coders_lab_2109368.259b1599fbee.jpg",
        "url": "https://realpython.com/team/bzaczynski/",
        "affiliation": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
          "name": "Real Python",
          "url": "https://realpython.com",
          "logo": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "Martin Breuss",
        "image": "https://realpython.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=456,height=456,fit=crop,gravity=auto,format=auto/https://files.realpython.com/media/martin_breuss_python_square.efb2b07faf9f.jpg",
        "url": "https://realpython.com/team/mbreuss/",
        "affiliation": {
          "@type": "Organization",
          "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
          "name": "Real Python",
          "url": "https://realpython.com",
          "logo": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-04-29T14:00:00+00:00",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-11T06:01:04.595473+00:00",
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
    "name": "Real Python",
    "url": "https://realpython.com",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png",
      "width": 512,
      "height": 512
    },
    "description": "Real Python is a leading provider of online Python education and one of the largest language-specific online communities for software developers. It publishes high-quality learning resources, such as tutorials, books, and courses to an audience of millions of developers, data scientists, and machine learning engineers each month.",
    "slogan": "Become a Python Expert",
    "email": "info@realpython.com",
    "sameAs": [
      "https://github.com/realpython",
      "https://www.youtube.com/realpython",
      "https://twitter.com/realpython",
      "https://x.com/realpython",
      "https://www.linkedin.com/company/realpython-com/",
      "https://www.facebook.com/learnrealpython",
      "https://www.instagram.com/realpython",
      "https://www.tiktok.com/@realpython.com"
    ]
  },
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Ben Batman",
    "image": "https://realpython.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1920,height=1920,fit=crop,gravity=auto,format=auto/https://files.realpython.com/media/real-python-logo-square.28474fda9228.png",
    "url": "https://realpython.com/team/bbatman/",
    "affiliation": {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "@id": "https://realpython.com/#organization",
      "name": "Real Python",
      "url": "https://realpython.com",
      "logo": "https://realpython.com/static/real-python-logo-square-512.157ae6bf64ed.png"
    }
  },
  "description": "AI coding agents come in four types: IDE, terminal, PR, and cloud. Learn how each workflow fits into modern Python development.",
  "hasPart": {
    "@type": "FAQPage",
    "mainEntity": [
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "What is an AI coding agent?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {
          "@type": "Answer",
          "text": "\u003cp\u003eAn AI coding agent is a tool that reads your code, reasons about changes, and acts on your behalf through a continuous loop of reading, reasoning, acting, and evaluating. That loop is what separates an agent from autocomplete or a one-shot chatbot exchange.\u003c/p\u003e"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "What are the four types of AI coding agents?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {
          "@type": "Answer",
          "text": "\u003cp\u003eThe four workflow types are IDE agents, terminal agents, pull request (PR) agents, and cloud agents. They differ by where the agent runs, how you interact with it, and how much autonomy it has.\u003c/p\u003e"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "How are AI coding agents different from AI chatbots?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {
          "@type": "Answer",
          "text": "\u003cp\u003eChatbots respond with one-off answers, while coding agents operate through a continuous execution loop and can edit files, run commands, and use external tools. Agents keep working until the task is done or they hand control back to you.\u003c/p\u003e"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "Can AI coding agents run locally for privacy?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {
          "@type": "Answer",
          "text": "\u003cp\u003eSome agents can connect to local models through tools like Ollama or Continue, which keeps your code on your machine. This option matters when company policies prevent sending proprietary code to external services.\u003c/p\u003e"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "Do you still need to review code written by AI coding agents?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {
          "@type": "Answer",
          "text": "\u003cp\u003eYes, human review remains essential for all AI-generated code. The more autonomous the agent, the more important careful review becomes, so a good rule of thumb is to never push or ship code that you haven\u0026rsquo;t laid eyes on.\u003c/p\u003e"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}