AI-driven development with OutSystems Mentor
Software development is full of complexities, and tasks like requirements gathering, coding, debugging, deployment, and maintenance can quickly pile up. But what if you could automate tedious software development lifecycle (SDLC) tasks, speed up the entire process, and ensure top-notch app quality—all with the power of AI?
That’s where Mentor comes in. It’s a first-of-its kind digital worker for the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC).
A digital worker is a non-human team member that can work alongside humans for things like capturing customer information and generating reports. Because they are AI-powered, they can learn by doing and be trained to prioritize tasks and handle exceptions. They also help improve accuracy and efficiency, and they work around the clock without interruption. They are also called “AI workers,” “AI digital workers,” and “AI-enabled workers.”
In this blog, I introduce you to Mentor and share how it can augment your development.
Tackling the mundane and tedious tasks in the software development lifecycle
Let’s be honest—the software development process has long been plagued by repetition, silos, and the need for multiple specialized tools, especially if hand-coding and traditional SDLC management are the norm in organizations. Development teams that are still developing applications from scratch (that is, not using low-code or AI-based coding tools) frequently struggle with:
- Manual and time-consuming processes for app discovery and prototyping
- Repetitive tasks that drain resources from higher-value work
- Quick fixes and inconsistent standards
- Late-stage security measures that affect release cycles
- Difficulty adhering to governance policies across the SDLC
Most of these challenges are addressed by the right low-code platform (OutSystems), one that’s powered by AI. And sure, there are some AI and GenAI tools that are helping in some areas of software development. However, they usually only target specific stages or tasks in the SDLC. Even with artificial intelligence, you’re looking at using at least four tools just for CI/CD, QA, security, and performance. Plus, there are multiple tools to evaluate and choose from for each task if you decide to go that route. And if you want AI or GenAI-powered application development—that’s a whole other set.
All this fragmentation often leads to delays, inconsistencies, and growing technical debt that hampers innovation and scalability. Until now, that’s been the situation—a lack of a single solution for comprehensive, AI-powered support across the entire lifecycle.
Meet Mentor: Your AI-powered digital worker for the entire SDLC
No more juggling a bunch of different tools—Mentor is here to simplify your development process. Mentor supports your team through every stage of the SDLC, from concept to ongoing maintenance. Powered by AI, it is designed to boost productivity, handle tedious tasks, and ensure you deliver high-quality apps.
Mentor combines the cutting-edge innovations of “Project Morpheus” and the popular features of the AI Mentor System with the OutSystems Developer Cloud (ODC). This enables IT teams to:
- Generate fully functional, scalable applications with the power of GenAI in a matter of minutes, significantly reducing development time.
- Iterate and evolve applications effortlessly using AI-powered suggestions, enabling continuous improvement and rapid iteration.
- Embed AI agents in apps, adding advanced capabilities like natural language understanding to humanize digital interactions—without any coding.
- Validate and maintain applications through AI-powered code reviews, ensuring all applications meet the highest possible standards for development, security, performance, architecture and long-term maintainability.
Let’s take a deeper look at the benefits.
Automated app prototyping gets you started fast
Mentor automates discovery and rapid prototyping, reducing the time spent on validating ideas and fine-tuning designs to minutes. With Mentor, users simply describe the app they need or their vision, and it generates an initial version with front-end functionality, data models, and embedded business logic.
Watch this demo to see app generation and editing in action.
Speed up your development cycles
When it comes to iteration, Mentor steps in as an invaluable non-human development team member that offers:
- AI-powered app suggestions: Cut out the guesswork of iteration. Mentor analyzes the structure of your apps and data models to offer recommendations that save you from endless tweaking.
- Effortless refinement: Make changes to app structure, adjust data models, and apply updates without constantly publishing or worrying about breaking code. No more tedious manual fixes or fearing you’ll mess something up.
- Advanced role-based security and workflows: Keep security and governance locked down with custom access controls and workflows—without slowing down development or making things more complicated than they need to be.
By taking care of the boring, repetitive tasks involved in fine-tuning applications the old-fashioned way, Mentor delivers faster development cycles. Your apps are solid, and your workflow is smooth, so you can ship quality apps without the usual headaches.
Mentor even lets you add an AI agent to your apps
With Mentor, developers can embed AI agents into applications, making it possible for teams to build sophisticated software. Developers can use its AI Agent Builder feature to create GenAI agents using Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and natural language processing—regardless of their AI experience level. Even without extensive AI expertise, teams can embed these agents into apps to enhance digital interactions and boost productivity. They can even use app data as context for more intelligent and responsive AI agents.
The validation we’re all looking for, courtesy of an AI-powered digital worker
Mentor also acts as an expert reviewer, enhancing the collective experience of development teams. By providing comprehensive analysis and guidance, it helps ensure applications meet the highest standards of quality and compliance. It validates work with in-depth code analysis across architecture, security, performance, and maintainability dimensions. There are also automated code reviews every 12 hours.
By providing this level of continuous, expert-level validation, Mentor helps teams deliver excellent software while adhering to best practices. Automated compliance checks and customizable workflows help organizations maintain adherence to governance policies without sacrificing agility.
The impact of Mentor on software development
The introduction of Mentor is a major leap forward in software development practices. By automating repetitive tasks and providing AI-assisted guidance, Mentor takes the groundwork laid by the OutSystems low-code platform and increases its power significantly, allowing developers to focus even more on high-value work and innovation.
Because of the continuous AI-powered code analysis and automated reviews that are part of Mentor, you can be assured of consistently high-quality output, reducing bugs and technical debt. With automated security checks throughout the SDLC, Mentor helps teams build more secure applications from the ground up.
