Agentic coding is when AI agents autonomously handle entire coding workflows - planning architecture, writing code, running tests, and iterating on bugs without you micromanaging every step.

Instead of autocompleting lines or suggesting snippets, these agents take a high-level goal like "build a REST API with auth" and execute the whole thing end-to-end.

Tools like Cursor, GitHub Copilot in agent mode, and Devin are leading this shift. They analyze your codebase, understand dependencies, make architectural decisions, and refine their output based on test results.

The tradeoff: you move from typing code to defining goals and reviewing output. Faster iteration, but you need clear guardrails and oversight to catch when agents drift from your standards.