Diff

A diff is like "Track Changes" in a document. You don't reread the whole thing. You just look at what's crossed out in red and what's added in green. After an AI coding tool changes code, it usually shows the changes as a diff and lets you accept or reject them. Git's git diff command also shows changes you haven't committed yet.

Even if you can't understand every line, looking at the diff catches a lot of problems: more files changed than expected, a big chunk of unrelated code deleted, or changes to files you said not to touch.

A handy habit: have the AI make small changes so each diff stays short enough to read. When a change is too big, first have it explain what changed in each file, then apply them one at a time.