Precedent or Intent? What Coding Agents Follow When Evolving Existing Code
arXiv:2610.38244v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Existing code reveals past implementation decisions but rarely explains the reasoning behind them. When coding agents implement new features or modify existing functionality, past decisions may conflict with new task instructions. This raises a fundamental question for agentic software evolution: when multiple implementations satisfy the same functional requirements, how do coding agents decide whether to follow existing code or new task instruc…