Why AI Coding Agents Hallucinate and How to Fix It (opens in new tab)

Most engineers I pair with can spot an AI coding agent hallucination when it happens. The AI invents an API that doesn't exist, reaches for a deprecated library, or rewrites a function you explicitly said to leave alone. They notice it, they're annoyed by it, and they move on. What I've noticed is that fewer engineers have developed the instinct to do something about it. Not just fix the output, but fix the input. When I hallucinate the same way twice, something in my environment is wrong, an...