BrassCoders Guides

Long-form, cited, practical guides for engineers shipping AI-augmented code. Each guide is a pillar — full coverage of one topic, linked from the related blog posts that go deeper on specific failure modes.

Pillar · 18 min read

AI Coding Assistant Blind Spots: A 2026 Coverage Map

The seven categories of bug AI coding assistants systematically miss — cross-file taint, hardcoded credentials, hallucinated imports, race conditions, context-dependent insecure patterns, auth middleware gaps, and PII flows. Cited research, worked examples, the deterministic complement for each.

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Capabilities · 12 min read

What BrassCoders Detects: The 12-Scanner Stack for AI Code

The capability map of every detector BrassCoders runs: six bundled OSS engines (Bandit, Pylint, Pyre/Pysa, Semgrep, ast-grep, detect-secrets) plus six custom detectors (phantom imports, performance anti-patterns, extended secret formats, PII, content moderation, JS/TS) — what each finds, and where the deterministic layer hands off to your AI assistant.

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Reference index · 25 min read

BrassCoders Research — AI Code Quality Reference Index

The curated reference index for the AI-code-quality problem. Papers, industry reports, OSS tools, and benchmark repos — each with a BrassCoders capsule explaining what builders should actually do with it. Five problem-led categories, quarterly refresh.

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AI code review · 12 min read

AI Code Review: The Practical Guide for 2026

A practical guide to reviewing AI-generated code without burnout. Covers the four failure modes of AI-assisted PRs (noise, secret leakage, hallucinated imports, diff complexity), the workflow that scales, and how to combine static analysis with LLM-based review.

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Tool comparison · 14 min read

Static Analysis Buyer's Guide for 2026

Honest comparison of open-source and commercial SAST tools. Three architectural patterns (rule-based, dataflow, AST-plus-context), real cost trade-offs, and a decision matrix matching the stack to your team size.

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Setup · 10 min read

BrassCoders Setup Guide: From Install to CI in 30 Minutes

Step-by-step setup from a fresh machine to a working CI integration. Install, first scan, AI assistant hand-off, GitHub Actions / GitLab CI examples, Paid plan activation, and .brassignore configuration tips.

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Tool guide · 16 min read

Python Code Scanning for AI-Generated Code

The four scanner categories that cover AI-generated Python — security (Bandit, Pyre/Pysa, Semgrep), performance anti-patterns, secrets/PII, and correctness — with real catch-rate benchmark data and a single-command setup that bundles all 12 scanners.

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CI/CD · 14 min read

CI/CD Code Gates for AI-Generated Code

How to build a three-stage code gate pipeline: pre-commit hook for local blocking, GitHub Actions CI scan for automated enforcement, and branch protection merge gate. Includes full YAML configuration, audit trail setup, and AI-assistant triage workflow.

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Context engineering · 12 min read

Context Engineering for AI Coding Assistants

How to feed structured BrassCoders findings to Claude Code, Cursor, and Continue so your AI assistant triages instead of guessing. Covers the .brass/ai_instructions.yaml file, severity ordering, line anchoring, and the research case for a deterministic pre-pass.

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Security · 14 min read

Security Review of AI-Generated Code

The vulnerability classes AI coding assistants produce — SQL injection via f-strings, command injection via shell=True, hardcoded credentials, unsafe deserialization — with corpus evidence, BrassCoders catch data, and the argument for a deterministic gate over an LLM reviewer.

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Setup · 7 min read

Running BrassCoders on Every Commit

The two ways to scan every commit — a CI step on push (GitHub Actions or GitLab CI) or a git pre-commit hook — plus why there is no automatic watch mode (the watch command was removed in 2.0.9) and how the exit code gates the build.

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