AI Pair Programming Best Practices in 2026: Work Smarter, Ship Better
Coding with an AI assistant has become the default way professional developers work in 2026. But “having Copilot installed” and actually practicing AI pair programming are two very different things. One is a plugin. The other is a discipline. After months of refining workflows with Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Continue.dev across different project types, I’ve collected the practices that genuinely improve output quality — and the habits that lead developers straight into a wall of subtle bugs and security debt. This guide focuses on methodology, not tool comparisons. Whether you’re using a commercial assistant or a self-hosted model, the principles apply. ...