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type: "post"
id: "ruby-on-rails-creator-declares-pencils-down-on-08a48a"
slug: "ruby-on-rails-creator-declares-pencils-down-on-08a48a"
title: "Ruby on Rails Creator Declares 'Pencils Down' on Handwritten Code"
description: "David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and a leader at software company 37signals, said the company has adopted a “pencils down” rule for handwritten code."
retrieval_nugget: "David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and a leader at software company 37signals, said the company has adopted a “pencils down” rule for handwritten code."
published_at: "2026-10-23"
updated_at: "2026-10-23"
record_date: "2026-10-23"
date_kind: "published_at"
topics: ["engineering-management"]
entities: ["37signals","David Heinemeier Hansson","Ruby on Rails","Rails World"]
related_patterns: ["ai-native-orgs-move-to-review-and-orchestration","harness-architecture-outlives-model-choice","verification-bandwidth-is-the-scarce-resource"]
novelty_label: "same_event"
what_changed: "Same event as ✔️ Создатель Ruby on Rails полностью отказался от ручного программирования"
prior_refs: ["memory:0ebf27c4-f583-8677-a383-c34e19974c8a"]
source_url: "https://www.businessinsider.com/ruby-on-rails-creator-no-more-handwritten-code-2026-9"
source_urls: ["https://www.businessinsider.com/ruby-on-rails-creator-no-more-handwritten-code-2026-9"]
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stable_id: "post:ruby-on-rails-creator-declares-pencils-down-on-08a48a"
status: "published"
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editor: {"role":"editor","name":"Andrey Reshetnikov","profile":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md","profile_json":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json","same_as":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshetnikov1/","https://t.me/lapetuse"]}
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---

# Ruby on Rails Creator Declares 'Pencils Down' on Handwritten Code

## Retrieval answer

David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and a leader at software company 37signals, said the company has adopted a “pencils down” rule for handwritten code.

David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and a leader at software company 37signals, said the company has adopted a “pencils down” rule for handwritten code. He made the remarks during a Rails World keynote, according to Business Insider.

Under the stated policy, AI agents are the normal way code is produced at 37signals. Writing code by hand is an exceptional fallback when an agent does not deliver what engineers need. Hansson said engineers can make the necessary manual change, but should then “fix the machine,” meaning the agent or process behind the failure.

Hansson also asked the Rails World audience how many people were still writing material amounts of code by hand each week and said he counted about five. The report dates the remarks to September 27, 2026.

The source does not identify which coding agents or models 37signals uses, how the workflow is implemented, or provide figures for cost, productivity, defect rates, review practices, or the share of code produced by agents. It therefore establishes the company’s stated operating rule, not its performance or applicability elsewhere.

Editor: [Andrey Reshetnikov](https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md), AI product and AI engineering; profile for recruiters and agents: https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json

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