The failure mode is missing constraints, not “coding skill”. Treat the model as a generator that must operate inside an explicit workflow: define the invariant boundaries, require a plan/diff before edits, run tests and static checks, and stop when uncertainty appears. That turns “hacky conditional” behaviour into controlled change.

Yes, exactly.

The LLM is onboarding to your codebase with each context window, all it knows is what it’s seen already.