Promises, Perils, and (Timely) Heuristics for Mining Coding Agent Activity (MSR 2026 - Technical Papers)

Who

Romain Robbes, Théo Matricon, Thomas Degueule, Andre Hora, Stefano Zacchiroli

Track

MSR 2026 Technical Papers

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When

Tue 14 Apr 2026 12:20 - 12:30 at Oceania IV - Session 1-B: Maintenance, Evolution & Processes

Abstract

In 2025, coding agents have seen a very rapid adoption. Coding agents leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) in ways that are markedly different from LLM-based code completion, making their study critical. Moreover, unlike LLM-based completion, coding agents leave visible traces in software repositories, enabling the use of MSR techniques to study their impact on SE practices. This paper documents the promises, perils, and heuristics that we have gathered from studying coding agent activity on GitHub.

Link to Preprint

https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.18345

Romain Robbes

CNRS, LaBRI, University of Bordeaux

France

Théo Matricon

CNRS, LaBRI, University of Bordeaux

France

Thomas Degueule

CNRS

France

Andre Hora

UFMG

Brazil

Stefano Zacchiroli

LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France

France

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Time Zone

The program is currently displayed in (GMT-03:00) Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil.

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Session Program

Tue 14 Apr
Displayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change

11:00 - 12:30	Session 1-B: Maintenance, Evolution & ProcessesTechnical Papers / MSR Program at Oceania IV

11:00 10m Talk		Source Code Hotspots: A Diagnostic Method for Quality Issues Technical Papers Saleha Muzammil University of Virginia, Mughees Ur Rehman Virginia Tech, Zoe Kotti AUEB & DeepSea Technologies, Diomidis Spinellis AUEB & TU Delft Pre-print
11:10 10m Talk		Evolving Kubernetes: A Technical Debt Perspective Technical Papers Jesse Maarleveld University of Groningen, Giuseppe Destefanis University College London, Daniel Feitosa University of Groningen
11:20 10m Talk		How do third-party Python libraries use type annotations? Technical Papers Eric Asare New York University Abu Dhabi, Sarah Nadi New York University Abu Dhabi Pre-print
11:30 10m Talk		Coordination at Scale in Large Distributed Development: The Case of Kubernetes Technical Papers Sabrina Aufiero University College London (UCL), Matteo Vaccargiu University of Cagliari, Silvia Bartolucci University College London, Fabio Caccioli University College London (UCL), Giuseppe Destefanis University College London
11:40 10m Talk		Combining Example-Based and Rule-Based Program Transformations to Resolve Build Conflicts Technical Papers Sheikh Shadab Towqir Virginia Tech, Fei He Tsinghua University, Todd Mytkowicz Google, Na Meng Virginia Tech Pre-print
11:50 10m Talk		Mining Quantum Software Patterns in Open-Source Projects Technical Papers Neilson Carlos Leite Ramalho Universidade de São Paulo, Erico Augusto Da Silva Universidade de São Paulo, Higor Amario de Souza University of São Paulo, Marcos Lordello Chaim University of São Paulo
12:00 10m Talk		Analyzing Dependency Distribution Changes Arising from Code Smell Interactions Technical Papers Zushuai Zhang University of Auckland, Elliott Wen , Ewan Tempero The University of Auckland Pre-print
12:10 10m Talk		The Value of Effective Pull Request Description Technical Papers Shirin Pirouzkhah University of Zurich, Pavlina Wurzel Goncalves University of Zurich, Alberto Bacchelli IfI, University of Zurich Pre-print
12:20 10m Talk		Promises, Perils, and (Timely) Heuristics for Mining Coding Agent Activity Technical Papers Romain Robbes CNRS, LaBRI, University of Bordeaux, Théo Matricon CNRS, LaBRI, University of Bordeaux, Thomas Degueule CNRS, Andre Hora UFMG, Stefano Zacchiroli LTCI, Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France Pre-print