AI agent repositories create a different technical debt profile than traditional CRUD applications.
In a standard web app, debt often shows up as large files, missing tests, unclear ownership, duplicated logic, stale dependencies, weak security controls, or architecture that makes changes expensive. Those still matter in AI repositories, but they are not the whole story.
The most expensive debt often lives at the boundaries.
Provider boundaries
An agent project may integrate OpenAI, Anthropic, local models, browser automation, vector stores, external APIs, auth systems, and file access. If those boundaries are not explicit, every new provider or workflow increases the chance of hidden coupling.
