---
title: "TDD is more important than ever"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/tdd-is-more-important-than-ever-hoeecbmpk
source_url: https://justin.searls.co/posts/tdd-is-more-important-than-ever/
type: article
source: "Justin Searls"
published: 2025-11-18T21:55:52.249Z
updated: 2025-11-18T21:56:12.439Z
tags: ["ai", "testing", "agile", "tdd"]
reading_time: 4
upvotes: 118
comments: 8
language: en
---

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# TDD is more important than ever

**[Justin Searls](https://daily.dev/sources/searls)** · 4 min read · 118 upvotes · 8 comments

## Summary

Test-driven development skills are becoming critical for working effectively with AI coding agents. Developers experienced in TDD are both the most skeptical of AI code generation and the most successful at using it, because they understand how to build verification into workflows. AI agents, like human developers, need independent ways to verify their work—without verification, they resort to guessing, which compounds errors rapidly. The ability to establish automated testing and verification mechanisms, once a hallmark of agile practices, is now essential for enabling AI agents to produce reliable code through reinforcement learning.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://justin.searls.co/posts/tdd-is-more-important-than-ever/>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@davidebellone** · 6 upvotes

> I think you are confusing "TDD" with "proper, structured testing".
>
> You can have the AI write the production code, and then YOU have to write all the necessary tests (not only Unit Test!!). But you can do it after the AI has generated everything.

**@snazzie** · 4 upvotes

> User Cases are important more than ever.
>
> TDD was never important. And it wont change.

**@akkitto** · 1 upvotes

> Very important point about using AI for code of any relevance.

**@volehong22** · 0 upvotes

> The writing is quite difficult to understand because it uses too much slang

**@ezpie** · 0 upvotes

> nah I don't think we need to write test. AI code is totally safe :thumbs-up:

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---

Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#testing](https://daily.dev/tags/testing), [#agile](https://daily.dev/tags/agile), [#tdd](https://daily.dev/tags/tdd)

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