Refactor a legacy jQuery plugin and fix its bugs
AI, like much of tech, evolves at an exponential pace. Task: The author tasked Devin AI with refactoring a 2017 jQuery exit-intent plugin to remove dependencies and modernize code. Devin cloned the repo, planned steps, and executed changes, but produced buggy code with a non-closing popup and leftover console logs. The author manually identified errors, instructed Devin to fix them, and reviewed the resulting Pull Requests before merging.; tools: Devin. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: Devin costs US$500/month and requires GitHub integration. The agent struggled with simple UI bugs and code cleanliness, necessitating human debugging. The source is a personal blog post, so results may vary by project complexity. Human approval is mandatory before merging code to production..
Tools
Published on Agent Work Atlas:
Overview
AI, like much of tech, evolves at an exponential pace.
Workflow
The author tasked Devin AI with refactoring a 2017 jQuery exit-intent plugin to remove dependencies and modernize code. Devin cloned the repo, planned steps, and executed changes, but produced buggy code with a non-closing popup and leftover console logs. The author manually identified errors, instructed Devin to fix them, and reviewed the resulting Pull Requests before merging.
Reported result
Devin successfully created two merged Pull Requests that modernized the plugin and added a debug mode. However, the initial output contained functional bugs and clutter that required human intervention to resolve. The author noted that while Devin saved time, it still needs supervision for quality assurance and edge-case handling.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
Devin costs US$500/month and requires GitHub integration. The agent struggled with simple UI bugs and code cleanliness, necessitating human debugging. The source is a personal blog post, so results may vary by project complexity. Human approval is mandatory before merging code to production.
Try it
Act as a software engineer using Devin AI to refactor [legacy code repository URL]. First, instruct Devin to clone the repo and remove [specific dependency, e.g., jQuery]. Ask it to modernize the code and update documentation. Review the generated Pull Request for bugs like [specific issue, e.g., broken UI events] and code smells like [e.g., console logs]. If issues exist, provide specific error logs to Devin and request fixes. Do not merge until you have manually tested the application in a browser. Confirm with me before creating the final PR.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.