Agent psychosis: are we going insane? (News)

Summary of Agent psychosis: are we going insane? (News)

by Changelog Media

6m•January 19, 2026
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Overview of "Agent psychosis: are we going insane?" (Changelog News — week of Jan 19, 2026)

This episode of Changelog News (host Jared) covers a short roundup of developer-focused headlines and opinion pieces from the week, anchored by a featured discussion of "agent psychosis" — the social and psychological fallout as developers lean heavily on AI coding agents. The episode also highlights major releases, debates about web dependency management, database best practices, and a few product/sponsor mentions.

Top stories — what was covered

  • jQuery 4.0 released

    • After nearly a decade, jQuery 4.0 is out. The host notes jQuery still powers ~71% of websites and that many breaking changes are removals — a sign of its longevity and evolution.
    • Takeaway: jQuery remains relevant and its v4 release is significant for front-end compatibility and modernization.

  • Agent psychosis (Armin Ronacher)

    • Armin Ronacher’s piece examines "agent coding addiction": developers over-relying on AI agents, degraded quality in issue reports and PRs, parasocial relationships with AIs, and community reinforcement of unhealthy practices.
    • Takeaway: Heavy AI assistance can distort contributor expectations and social interactions in open source; maintainers and teams need to set clearer norms and guardrails.

  • "Social file system" (Dan Abramov)

    • Dan Abramov reframes the files paradigm as a model for social apps. He likens decentralized/social protocols (notably the AT protocol) to a “social file system” where content is portable and apps interoperate through shared formats.
    • Takeaway: Treating social data as files/portable artifacts suggests new architectures for interoperability and rethinking platform lock-in.

  • Repo Bar (tool highlight)

    • macOS menu bar app that surfaces GitHub repos, CI, releases, traffic, and activity. Works with GitHub Enterprise; currently macOS-only (no Linux/Windows).
    • Host notes: such an app could be quickly ported or forked using an agent.

  • Sponsor: Sonatype Guide (security angle)

    • Problem: AI agents recommend dependencies from stale/frozen training data which can introduce known vulnerabilities.
    • Sonatype Guide provides live component intelligence (MCP server) integrated with AI assistants to recommend safe dependency versions (supports tools like Claude, Cursor).
    • Takeaway: Integrate live dependency/security intelligence into AI coding flows to avoid introducing vulnerable packages.

  • Life-altering Postgres patterns (Ethan McHugh)

    • Key recommendations shared: use UUID primary keys, add created_at/updated_at, use ON UPDATE/ON DELETE RESTRICT, use schemas, enum tables, singular table names, mechanically named join tables, prefer soft deletes, represent status as a log, mark system rows with a system ID, use views sparingly and prefer JSON queries.
    • Takeaway: Small schema and naming conventions can materially improve teams’ long-term productivity and maintainability.

  • Web dependency management critique (Lea Verou)

    • Lea Verou argues the web platform has outsourced dependency management to third-party tooling, creating fragile trade-offs and preventing healthy, first-class reuse in browsers.
    • She calls for a community and standards-level fix rather than only incremental improvements.
    • Takeaway: The web ecosystem needs a more native, platform-level approach to dependencies.

  • Newsletter extras (teasers)

    • Cloudflare acquires Astro, renewed attention to "dead internet" theory, and discussion on why senior engineers let bad projects fail.

Notable quotes / insights

  • Armin Ronacher: “Many of us got hit by the agent coding addiction. It feels good… we barely sleep… every once in a while that interaction involves other humans, and we get a reality check that maybe we overdid it.”
  • Dan Abramov: “Apps and formats are many to many. File formats let different apps work together without knowing about each other.”
  • Lea Verou: “Dependency-free is not a badge of honor… the web platform has outsourced this fundamental functionality to third party tooling.”

Practical takeaways and recommended actions

  • For maintainers and teams

    • Define contribution and PR expectations to reduce low-quality, agent-generated noise.
    • Establish review checklists that catch common AI-induced errors or irrelevant submissions.

  • For security-conscious teams

    • Do not rely solely on AI model recommendations for dependencies. Integrate live, curated component intelligence (e.g., Sonatype Guide or similar) in your AI-assisted workflows.

  • For architects and platform engineers

    • Consider portability-first models (files or similar) when designing social/interoperable systems.
    • Push for platform-level improvements in dependency management for the web — engage browser vendors and standards groups.

  • For database practitioners

    • Adopt proven Postgres patterns (UUIDs, timestamp columns, schemas, soft deletes, consistent naming) to increase long-term robustness and team velocity.

Links, sponsors, and extras mentioned

  • Sponsor: Sonatype Guide — live component intelligence integrated with AI coding assistants (free to start).
  • App: Repo Bar — macOS GitHub dashboard in the menu bar (GitHub Enterprise compatible).
  • Other mentioned items: jQuery 4.0 release, Armin Ronacher’s post on agent behavior, Dan Abramov’s "social file system" piece, Ethan McHugh’s Postgres patterns, Lea Verou’s post on web dependency management.
  • Newsletter extras teased: Cloudflare + Astro, dead internet theory redux, why senior engineers let bad projects fail.

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