The Dark Factory
Routine bugs and features, handled completely by AI.
The Dark Factory model for software development is AI-automated engineering in which people define and check the work while AI writes the code.
By Brendan King · Last updated:
Key points
- The goal is a routine ticket built, reviewed, deployed and checked without hand-written code.
- Today AI drafts bug fixes and finds causes; a person reviews the result.
- Testing, a separate test environment and architectural records are foundations, not optional extras.
The goal
We want routine bugs and features to be handled completely by the Dark Factory. Written up as a ticket, built, reviewed, deployed and checked in production, with no hand-written code.
What it is
The Dark Factory is AI-automated engineering. Engineers define and check the work. AI writes the code.
The name comes from manufacturing. A dark factory has no people inside, so the lights are off. But people do not leave the building. Their job changes.
Why we are doing it
"AI does the work" only means something if the work can move without us. If a person has to be involved for the work to happen, that person is the limit on how much we can build.
The bottleneck keeps moving
Same process, different constraint. First the limit was writing code. Then it was reviewing code. With the factory, the limit moves to what goes in: the quality of the brief, the prototype and the story. So people spend their time there.
People work on the factory, not in it
Three jobs: the quality of what goes in, tuning the factory, and judging what comes out. We review the combined output of the factory, not every single change, and use what we find to tune the machine.
The best picture is a gardener. A gardener does not grow the plants. They tend the conditions. The AI does the work. The human tends the conditions it works in.
The foundation is trust
The factory only works on real foundations: a testing harness, a test environment that is not production, and a written record of architectural decisions. Review does not go away. It moves earlier, before the code, and later, after it is live.
One process at a time
Companies do not have an automation level. Processes do. Pick one process. Define what goes in, what comes out, and what good looks like. Automate it as far as it will go. Then take the next. You cannot automate a process that is not defined.
Where we are today
It is working on bugs now. AI drafts the fix and finds the cause, and a person reviews it. We are extending it to features and to more teams. The next step is a fix checked in production and the bug closed by the factory itself.
Engineering after the factory
The work moves earlier and gets harder. Get the inputs right. Then keep reshaping the systems, with the refactors that always lost to the next feature.
The claim
The Dark Factory makes software liquid.
Questions about The Dark Factory
What is the Dark Factory model for software development?
It is AI-automated engineering. Engineers define and check the work; AI writes the code. The goal is to carry routine bugs and features from a ticket through production checks without hand-written code.
Is the Dark Factory already fully autonomous?
No. The current workflow described here has AI drafting bug fixes and finding causes, with a person reviewing them. Features, additional teams and automated production checks are the next steps, not claims of completed deployment.
What do engineers do in a Dark Factory?
People improve the inputs, tune the factory and judge its output. The bottleneck moves from writing code to the quality of the brief, prototype and story.
What makes an automated engineering process trustworthy?
The foundations are a testing harness, a test environment separate from production and a written record of architectural decisions. Review moves earlier, before code, and later, after it is live.
How does the Dark Factory relate to Liquid Software?
Liquid Software describes the business experience: software adapts to the job. The Dark Factory describes the engineering model intended to build and change that software.