# Notes from running the herd Notes on shipping with AI coding agents: coordination, cost, and what a herd of agents can actually do — for developers and the product people who unlock them. Source: https://codeherder.com/blog/ Insights Long-form thinking on coordinating AI coding agents, keeping their spend visible, and what becomes possible when the idea is the only bottleneck. New here? Start with our guide to [orchestrating AI coding agents →](https://codeherder.com/blog/how-to-orchestrate-ai-coding-agents/) For everyone For developers For product & leaders 14 posts August 24, 2026 · 7 min read ## [We moved our production database from SQLite to PostgreSQL without slowing down](https://codeherder.com/blog/database-migration-at-full-speed/) A 33-minute cutover window and 99 of 99 tables verified, shipped while the same codebase absorbed 637 merges and a dozen other initiatives. For everyone - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) - [agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/agents/) - [migration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/migration/) - [velocity](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/velocity/) August 17, 2026 · 6 min read ## [Collide, forget, repeat: the three ways parallel agents get out of sync](https://codeherder.com/blog/collide-forget-repeat/) Run enough clean-context coding agents in parallel and three problems appear: they collide, forget, and repeat house rules. Here's how CodeHerder fixes that. For everyone - [coordination](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/coordination/) - [context](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/context/) - [agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/agents/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) August 16, 2026 · 8 min read ## [Optimise the file every agent reads before doing anything](https://codeherder.com/blog/the-file-every-agent-reads/) Keeping CLAUDE.md small is best practice, but ours hit 231KB across 37 correct commits. Splitting it cut cost per turn 28%, turns per task by a third. For everyone - [cost](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/cost/) - [context](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/context/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) - [observability](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/observability/) August 10, 2026 · 5 min read ## [Drive your herd from claude.ai and chatgpt.com](https://codeherder.com/blog/drive-your-herd-from-claude-ai-and-chatgpt/) CodeHerder now speaks remote MCP: check tasks, triage the backlog, file a task, and comment, straight from claude.ai or chatgpt.com. For everyone - [mcp](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/mcp/) - [integrations](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/integrations/) - [claude](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/claude/) - [chatgpt](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/chatgpt/) August 5, 2026 · 8 min read ## [The most expensive line in your agent config is the model name](https://codeherder.com/blog/reasoning-model-is-the-cost-lever/) Agent cost doesn't track codebase size. Swapping our judgment stage's reasoning model moved a story's cost 2.4x, and its lead time nearly 3x. For everyone - [cost](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/cost/) - [models](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/models/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) - [observability](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/observability/) August 1, 2026 · 10 min read ## [Give your agents their own machine: what CPU contention costs a parallel herd](https://codeherder.com/blog/dedicated-hardware-for-concurrent-agents/) Parallel Claude Code sessions need dedicated hardware. Load-matched data puts one machine 40% ahead, and a spot m9g.xlarge holds ten sessions. For everyone - [devices](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/devices/) - [performance](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/performance/) - [aws](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/aws/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) - [cost](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/cost/) July 26, 2026 · 14 min read ## [Anatomy of an $8 feature: the itemised receipt for code no human wrote](https://codeherder.com/blog/anatomy-of-an-8-dollar-feature/) 944 user stories shipped in a week, with no human writing the code. Here's what the median one cost, and what each quality gate caught. For everyone - [cost](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/cost/) - [workflow](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/workflow/) - [review](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/review/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) - [observability](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/observability/) July 25, 2026 · 14 min read ## [10 things we learned running 100 billion tokens through a herd of AI agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/100-billion-tokens/) Two months of CodeHerder data: 1.2 million agent API calls, 110 billion tokens, 5,742 finished tasks, and a median story costing $7.54, done in 50 minutes. For everyone - [cost](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/cost/) - [observability](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/observability/) - [agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/agents/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) July 20, 2026 · 6 min read ## [Shipping without code: a non-technical builder's playbook for AI coding agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/non-technical-builders-playbook/) You don't need to write code to ship real software with AI agents. Brief clearly, review the right things, and let the gates do the work. For product & leaders - [product](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/product/) - [workflow](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/workflow/) - [guide](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/guide/) July 19, 2026 · 5 min read ## [Can you trust AI-generated code? A practical guide to reviewing agent work at scale](https://codeherder.com/blog/trusting-ai-generated-code/) The real question isn't whether AI agents can write code. It's whether you can trust code you didn't watch get written. Here's how gates make that answer yes. For everyone - [review](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/review/) - [quality](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/quality/) - [trust](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/trust/) - [agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/agents/) July 15, 2026 · 9 min read ## [How to run a team of AI coding agents: a practical guide to orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/how-to-orchestrate-ai-coding-agents/) Going from one AI coding agent to a coordinated herd that ships reviewed, cost-bounded work: the problems that show up, and the operating model that fixes them. For everyone - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) - [agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/agents/) - [workflow](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/workflow/) - [guide](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/guide/) June 1, 2026 · 3 min read ## [Cost-aware AI engineering: keeping agent spend visible and bounded](https://codeherder.com/blog/cost-aware-ai-engineering/) Token spend is easy to lose track of with more than one agent running. Here's how to keep it visible per task, agent, and model. For everyone - [cost](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/cost/) - [observability](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/observability/) - [engineering](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/engineering/) May 18, 2026 · 3 min read ## [One agent is a tool; a herd needs a shepherd](https://codeherder.com/blog/one-agent-is-a-tool-a-herd-needs-a-shepherd/) A single coding agent is easy to supervise. Ten of them is a coordination problem nobody's tool was built to solve. For everyone - [coordination](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/coordination/) - [agents](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/agents/) - [orchestration](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/orchestration/) May 4, 2026 · 3 min read ## [Ship a product idea without an engineer](https://codeherder.com/blog/one-idea-no-engineer/) You know exactly what 'done' looks like. Here's how to go from a plain-language brief to a shipped, reviewed change, without writing a line of code yourself. For product & leaders - [product](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/product/) - [workflow](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/workflow/) - [no-code adjacent](https://codeherder.com/blog/topics/no-code-adjacent/)