First Look at JetBrains Junie Autonomous AI Agent

Duncan tests JetBrains' autonomous AI coding agent Junie by having it implement code using test-driven development.

Last month Jetbrains released an early access preview of their new AI tool Junie. Junie is an agent. This means that we can give it a goal, it will devise a plan, and then execute tasks autonomously. It can even change its behaviour based on how things are going. In this first look at Junie I’m going to tell it the rules of Test Driven Development and see how well it can follow the process. As in the last episode, I will write the tests, and ask Junie to write the implementation code. This one is really, really interesting. Join Duncan as he takes an in-depth first look at Juni, JetBrains' new AI tool, demonstrating how it autonomously follows the rules of test-driven development. Watch Duncan initiate tasks, review the tool's performance, and explore features like file creation, proactive task execution, and interaction via guidelines. Despite some technical hiccups, Duncan showcases the potential of integrating AI with coding workflows, emphasizing strict TDD for effective problem-solving. In this episode * 00:00:35 Introspecting an existing project * 00:02:42 Early Access weirdness * 00:03:24 Brave Mode * 00:03:50 Setting parameters * 00:04:47 Tell Junie about Strict TDD - It makes a plan * 00:05:35 Ask Junie to create a test * 00:06:06 Goodness it's eager * 00:06:53 I'll take control and write the test I want * 00:08:50 Down boy * 00:10:37 Now another test * 00:12:02 We get out of sync somehow * 00:12:48 Reboot the chat * 00:14:04 Reboot IntelliJ * 00:15:35 Now we are green we can reformat * 00:16:22 Prompt a refactor * 00:16:43 It's being proactive again! * 00:17:06 More tests to add features * 00:17:54 Junie is high on its own supply * 00:21:01 Another test to refine behaviour * 00:21:43 Println debugging is back! * 00:22:23 Communicating through test names * 00:23:20 If that fails just say what we want * 00:24:24 More EAP editor state issues * 00:26:32 Ask for another refactor * 00:28:06 The Verdict There is a playlist of AI episodes - youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1ssMPpyqociSAO5NlyMEYPL6a9eP5xte If you like this video, you’ll probably like my book Java to Kotlin, A Refactoring Guidebook (java-to-kotlin.dev). It's about far more than just the syntax differences between the languages - it shows how to upgrade your thinking to a more functional style.