AI-BENCHMARKS PUB_DATE: 2026.01.18

BENCHMARK AI CODING BY TIME-TO-RESOLUTION AND COST

A community discussion calls for SWE benchmarks that track end-to-end time-to-resolution, resolve rate, and cost—not just accuracy. For AI in the SDLC, these me...

Benchmark AI coding by time-to-resolution and cost

A community discussion calls for SWE benchmarks that track end-to-end time-to-resolution, resolve rate, and cost—not just accuracy. For AI in the SDLC, these metrics better reflect throughput, latency, and actual ROI than pass/fail scores.

[ WHY_IT_MATTERS ]
01.

Latency and cycle time directly impact developer throughput and delivery predictability.

02.

Cost-per-resolution and resolve rate expose real productivity gains versus raw model accuracy.

[ WHAT_TO_TEST ]
  • terminal

    Instrument tasks to record start-to-merge time, resolve rate, human-in-the-loop minutes, and cost per task across models/agents.

  • terminal

    Run A/B across AI setups with the same task pool and track median/95p cycle time, rework counts, and rollback rates.

[ BROWNFIELD_PERSPECTIVE ]

Legacy codebase integration strategies...

  • 01.

    Add telemetry in issue trackers and CI to capture timestamps, AI usage, and costs; baseline current SLAs before rollout.

  • 02.

    Pilot on one repo and gate expansion on improved median and 95p time-to-resolution without increasing defects.

[ GREENFIELD_PERSPECTIVE ]

Fresh architecture paradigms...

  • 01.

    Define tasks with clear exit criteria and log prompts, responses, timings, and cost from day one.

  • 02.

    Choose tools that expose latency, token usage, and cost via APIs to enable standardized benchmarking.