December 2025

2025 in Review: AI makes a splash

In Web, Mobile and API Consulting

Looking back on projects from earlier in the year it is amazing (if slightly alarming) how far we have come with LLM coding agents.

Claude Code went from side-project-helper to management roll out to staff across the globe.

The adage "AI won't replace you, someone using AI will replace you" has taken on multiple meanings, from 10x coworkers shipping in hours what used to take days, to vibe-coding managers announcing current projects are being dropped in favour of something they whipped up in Replit.

We saw it move from "interesting experiment" to actual production systems - factory.ai, repl.it, lovable.dev all went mainstream, leading to an explosion of coding access.

Some things I noticed this year:

Documentation is the force multiplier - add AI at the BA stage for better outcomes, ask Claude to introspect your codebase and generate your platform docs in markdown
The gap between "AI can do this" and "AI does this reliably in your context" is still wide but can be managed
Test coverage is the only reliable way to verify agent output at scale, especially on brownfield. Have the agent add tests and manually verify them.
But when you get the setup right, the results are genuinely transformative

Not every emerging pattern is positive - the JS/React everywhere antipattern is exploding thanks to Lovable and other AI tools, putting react on landing pages and marketing sites where it has no right or reason to be, degrading performance, SEO and accessibility.

My two biggest technical takeaways from 2025

1. AI coding agents on brownfield projects actually work

While 90% of vibecoded projects fail egregiously as they near completion, the same AI coding tools can be made to produce startling results with the application of professional SDLC best practices.

Detailed requirements gathering, codebase static analysis tooling, TDD, e2e testing and codebase quality tooling like Rector, all long seen as hallmarks of professional production processes are now the keys to unlocking huge wins on large complex brownfield and legacy codebases.

From maintenance tasks, feature upgrades, security reviews to framework version upgrades or porting to new languages, this pattern is set to change how we handle core business platforms in the near future.

Documentation is the unlock - full HLDs, detailed requirements, clear context.
Framework-aware MCP tools - Access to tooling that understands your specific language and framework conventions change the game.
Automated test agents for introspection - using Playwright-based agents to inspect and validate gives the LLM a feedback loop. Complex debugging and new features that would've taken days if attempted at all are now done in hours.

2. On-the-fly integrations you'd never have built before

This has become a daily occurrence for me - a client asks for a custom report, or manual hanlding where online tools don't meet your needs, or a regular process that is not quite worth coding up, all are now fair game for automating on the spot. AI has made custom integrations so fast and accurate that we're building things we would have just done manually before.

Example: Figma Jamboards export as a single giant png file, but when piped into an python tooling with auto edge finding + OCR, user flows and UI requirements can be piped directly into Trello, and then synced as often as required - no more manual process after 3rd round of BA review.

The threshold for "worth automating" has dropped dramatically and this is going to reshape how we think about tooling in 2026 APIs and integrations.

2026 prediction

The patterns around AI coding agents and integration tooling are going to mature fast. We're going to see serious workflows emerge for brownfield work, not just "vibe coding" greenfield demos. Some really amazing patterns developing.

Our 2025 wins at Hinterland Tech

Port Self-service Advertising Portal from SAS to Google Ad Manager for a major real estate incumbent
Extensive scoping and technical spikes on an exciting Health and Wellness via video marketplace due to launch 2026
Game changing in-house POC demo'd and funded, for a B2B AI mentoring and coaching platform, stay tuned for more on this Q1 2026

What were your big wins of 2025?

I'd genuinely like to hear - the interesting stuff is often in the details people don't post about. What patterns are you seeing? Especially curious what's working on legacy systems and custom integrations and how you see software development changing in 2026.

If you're planning platform, AI, or integration work for 2026 - let's talk.

We're already booking Q2. Get in touch via the form below, email hello@jerram.net or connect on LinkedIn.