When a team compares AI coding assistants, the hardest part is usually not finding a longer feature list. It is deciding which tool fits the way the team actually works.
A lightweight evaluation can focus on five questions:
Repository context — Can the assistant understand the project structure, conventions, and existing APIs without repeated prompting?
Task quality — Does it help with small, verifiable tasks such as tests, refactors, documentation, and bug isolation?
Reviewability — Are the generated changes easy to inspect, explain, and reject when they are wrong?
