---
type: source
title: "GitHub is the Future of AI Coding (Here's Why)"
description: "GitHub (via Actions) is the durable orchestration layer for AI coding: you invoke any coding assistant with a comment trigger on an issue or PR, and choose a hybrid, deterministic, or fully-autonomous workflow structure to fit how much control you want."
youtube_id: upwbqZ67UBA
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upwbqZ67UBA
slug: github-is-the-future-of-ai-coding-heres-why
published: 2025-11-12
duration: "0:24:01"
recency_rank: 54
raw: "../raw/github-is-the-future-of-ai-coding-heres-why.md"
tags: [github-actions, agentic-coding, orchestration]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# GitHub is the Future of AI Coding (Here's Why)

Cole argues that even as AI takes over most coding, we will always need an orchestration layer for task management, version control, and assigning work to different coding agents on an AI dev team, and that GitHub (or a GitLab-like equivalent) is the natural home for it. He demonstrates wiring three coding assistants, Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, into a single GitHub repo using GitHub Actions. A trigger comment like @claude-fix on an issue or PR spins up an isolated GitHub-hosted environment, invokes the assistant, and produces a fix, pull request, or review. Because each assistant suffixes its branch with its own name, all three can run in parallel on the same issue without conflicts.

The core teaching is three workflow structures that trade control for autonomy. The hybrid approach (Claude Code) lets the assistant create its own branch and analyze the code but leaves a button for the human to create the pull request, keeping a person in the loop. The deterministic approach (Codex) hard-codes the branch creation, PR body, and issue comment in the workflow YAML and only calls the assistant for the actual code changes, maximizing control. The fully-autonomous approach (Cursor) sends a single prompt telling the agent to create the branch, fix the code, open the PR, and comment, all via the GitHub CLI in headless mode.

Underlying details tie it together. Every assistant loads the same reusable prompt (a slash-command-like markdown file) plus a shared agents.md of global rules, so behavior is consistent across tools. Workflows enforce security so only approved maintainers can invoke agents on a public repo, and the Claude Code OAuth token from claude setup-token lets you use a subscription instead of a pricier API key. He also shows SonarQube's MCP server for running security scans on AI-generated code, and stresses building everything by reading each assistant's official GitHub Action documentation.

## Concepts covered

- [Agentic Workflow Engineering](../concepts/agentic-workflow-engineering.md)
- [Agentic Coding](../concepts/agentic-coding.md)
- [The Issue Is the Spec](../concepts/issue-is-the-spec.md)
- [Human in the Loop](../concepts/human-in-the-loop.md)
- [Deterministic Workflows](../concepts/deterministic-workflows.md)
- [Vibe Coding](../concepts/vibe-coding.md)
- [Agent Teams](../concepts/agent-teams.md)
- [Parallel Agentic Coding](../concepts/parallel-agentic-coding.md)
- [Commandify Everything](../concepts/commandify-everything.md)
- [Global Rules](../concepts/global-rules.md)
- [Provider Independence](../concepts/provider-independence.md)
- [Code Review](../concepts/code-review.md)
- [Validation](../concepts/validation.md)
- [Context Isolation](../concepts/context-isolation.md)
- [Model Selection](../concepts/model-selection.md)

## Entities

- [GitHub](../entities/tools/github.md)
- [Claude Code](../entities/tools/claude-code.md)
- [Codex](../entities/tools/codex.md)
- [Cursor](../entities/tools/cursor.md)
- [Cline](../entities/tools/cline.md)
- [MCP (Model Context Protocol)](../entities/tools/mcp.md)
- [Pydantic AI](../entities/tools/pydantic-ai.md)
- [Archon](../entities/tools/archon.md)
- [Anthropic](../entities/organizations/anthropic.md)
- [OpenAI](../entities/organizations/openai.md)
- [Cole Medin](../entities/people/cole-medin.md)

## Key moments

- **[0:00:16]** Defines the 'orchestration layer' need: task management, version control, assigning agents; GitHub/GitLab as the solution
- **[0:02:06]** All integrations use GitHub Actions; each workflow starts from a trigger comment on an issue or PR
- **[0:03:08]** Demo of @claude-fix, @codex fix, @cursor fix producing pull requests, plus @claude-review for PR reviews
- **[0:05:12]** Claude Code as the HYBRID approach: agent does the work, human clicks a button to create the PR
- **[0:08:08]** Reusable prompt shared across all assistants, plus agents.md global rules; branch suffixed per assistant
- **[0:09:17]** Anthropic's official Claude Code GitHub Action; claude setup-token OAuth vs expensive API key
- **[0:10:38]** Codex as the DETERMINISTIC approach: branch/PR/comment built in YAML, agent only writes code
- **[0:13:16]** Cursor as the fully-AUTONOMOUS approach: single prompt, cursor CLI headless (-p), agent does everything via GitHub CLI
- **[0:15:04]** Sponsor Sonar/SonarQube: MCP server to run security scans on AI-generated code
- **[0:20:15]** Full parallel demo: all three assistants fix and review each other's PRs simultaneously with no branch conflicts

## Transcript

[Raw transcript](../raw/github-is-the-future-of-ai-coding-heres-why.md)
