Inside Kikimora: We Built a Dark Software Factory
Summary
The presentation introduces the concept of a 'Dark Factory'—an autonomous software development model where processes run without constant human supervision. The speaker details how rapid advancements in coding agents have broken traditional bottlenecks built for slow software. This factory approach uses tools like Tessl Agent to automate workflows (e.g., taking an issue from Linear, solving it with an agent, and opening a GitHub PR that self-corrects until merged). The core shift is moving the engineer's value proposition from writing code to understanding complex systems and trusting autonomous results.
Key takeaways
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The Dark Factory Concept
1:41
A dark factory involves building software in a highly autonomous way, where human supervision is minimized. It is modeled after manufacturing factories with no lights on (i.e., no humans inside).
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Bottleneck Breaking Point
3:23
As coding agents increased speed, existing processes designed for slower development began to break down, necessitating a fundamental shift in how software was built.
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The Shift in Engineering Value
7:16
The value of an engineer is shifting from the ability to write code (which agents can do) to understanding the system's architecture and interlocking technical/business constraints. Trusting autonomous results is the new challenge.
Technical details
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Dark Factory Workflow
136s
The process starts with creating a Linear issue, which is then picked up by an autonomous agent that solves it in the cloud and opens a GitHub PR. The factory 'babysits' this PR, making necessary changes until the human user merges it.
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Night Shift Orchestrator
411s
The speaker developed Night Shift, an internal orchestrator designed for side projects with the rule: 'don't look at the code at all.' This served as a proof point for autonomous capabilities.
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Tessl Agent and Automation
790s
The Tessl agent is designed not primarily for writing code, but for helping identify workflows, extracting them from existing silos, formatting them for agents, uploading them to a skills registry, and creating automations.
Mentioned resources
- Tessl Agent
- Linear
Channel & topics
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